Hi Nanna star Nani tells why he has distanced himself from straight Tamil films

Nani, who’s keenly awaiting the release of Hi Nanna on December 7 globally, is going all out to promote the film in multiple languages. While the emotional drama, directed by Shouryuv, was shot in Telugu, it’s also releasing in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. Earlier this week, Nani was in Chennai to promote the film and fielded several questions from the scribes.

Also read: Hi Nanna - Decoding the plot of Nani, Mrunal Thakur’s emotional drama

The ‘Natural Star’ is quite a familiar face to Tamil audiences - having done straight films like Veppam and Naan Ee earlier. While responding to a question on why he has distanced himself from straight Tamil films after Naan Ee, the star said it was a product of a conscious decision he took many years ago. He opined his Tamil films created a confusion among audiences in both languages.

The actor added, “I realised Tamil directors forced certain elements into a story because they found a Telugu actor. While Tamil audiences presumed it was a Telugu film, Telugu audiences thought it was a Tamil film. That’s not how films work in terms of the casting and I felt we should genuinely tell a story. I didn’t know how to go about it and was confused.”

After the pan Indian success of Baahubali, Kantara, Nani realised that genuinely telling a story is more important than the casting decisions. “In Telugu, because I am comfortable with the language, I can afford to improvise. A good film today works irrespective of the language. Making a film accessible to audiences across languages in good quality is important. It’s our responsibility now and we’re taking care of it.”

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He stated that there has been an overdose of mother-child emotions in cinema and that one could call December a father’s month, thanks to Hi Nanna and Animal. Nani also said he has never felt like an outsider in Chennai and revealed that the decision to cast Mrunal in Hi Nanna was a choice taken by the entire team.

Also read: Nani - Hi Nanna is the first time I found myself handsome on the screen