Nani back to his good ol' ways with Ante Sundaraniki

By luck or design, Nani has earned an image of being an 'approachable' actor very early in his career, being careful with his script choices and understanding the film-watching sensibilities of the average common man and middle-class crowds. Ashta Chemma gave him the best possible start to his acting stint and Nani used the foundation well to pick up a wide variety of films that tapped into his potential as a versatile performer over the years. From Bheemili Kabaddi Jattu to Ride and now Shyam Singha Roy, the 'Mr Consistent' actor has come a long way indeed.

However, over the last few years one has noticed that the performer in Nani was gradually making way for the star in him and the results started showing. Even though Nenu Local and Middle Class Abbayi were hailed as commercial successes, the films didn't match up to the high standards that Nani had set for himself before. While Jersey showed crowds what he was truly capable of, he missed the bus when it came to his direct-to-OTT releases V and Tuck Jagadish.

While Nani clearly wasn't a right choice for the negative role in V while Tuck Jagadish reflected his ambitions to be a star more than an actor. The inspid response did help the actor look within and then came his superb return to form with Shyam Singha Roy. Yet in all these cases, the films were high on drama and audiences couldn't get to see the good ol' Nani who tickled their funny bones with his wacky characters in unique situations. Ante Sundaraniki is exactly what the doctor ordered for the day for Nani and it's refreshing to see him sparkle in the recently released promo.

As evident in the glimpse yesterday, Nani plays an underconfident son in an orthodox Brahmin family in Ante Sundaraniki and the actor was hilarious while responding to the various religous practices he's fed up of, at his home. This is home territory for Nani and at a time when theatrical market is just opening up, one can't afford to go too experimental with scripts. Ante Sundaraniki should hopefully bring back the next-door-boy Nani that we're extremely fond of and we can't wait to catch him during the 'Avakaya season' on June 10.