Karthik Raju on Atharva - Asked my director for a 10-minute narration, but it went on for 3 hours

Atharva, headlined by Karthik Raju, Simran Choudhary and Aayra, is gearing up for release on December 1. The film is a crime thriller revolving around a protagonist from a clues team and how they go about solving a tricky case. Mahesh Reddy helmed the thriller. Ahead of its release, Karthik Raju spills the beans about the film.

Why Atharva?

I asked Mahesh Reddy to narrate the story in 10 minutes. I liked it and asked him to continue, we chatted for three hours on the whole. I said yes to it immediately. The protagonist has asthma in the film, which stops him from fulfilling his ambition - to become a cop. He instead joins a ‘clues’ team. The film was shot on a huge scale, grand sets were erected during the making. The focus was on making a good film.

Also read: Atharva: Karthik Raju, Simran Choudhary’s film rides on the thriller wave in Telugu cinema

The USP of Atharva

Most crime thrillers tread a similar path, but it’ll be interesting to see how a ‘clues’ team investigates a case - that’s the USP of Atharva. Expressions are crucial for an actor in this genre. The film is largely driven by the performances. I found my role challenging. Simran Choudhary, who plays a crime journalist in the film, and Aayra are the female leads and both have prominent roles.

Pre-release response

We arranged a special show for the Clues team and they were quite happy with what they saw. They apparently don’t watch crime thrillers regularly but had high words of praise for our team. They liked my character in the film and said that Clues team officers should ideally go about their work like him.

Being choosy about offers

I had many offers after Kausalya Krishnamurthy, but there was a lull phase post COVID-19. I am being choosy about my offers and don’t want to take any chances. I will begin work on a new film Hasthina Puram from December 7. I have already shot for a film to be produced by People Media Factory. I want to do an EVV Satyanarayana-style full-on entertainer soon that’ll be watched by family crowds.

Also read: Atharva sneak peek out - Karthik Raju, Kalpika Ganesh investigate a triple-murder case