Pavel Navageethan on his Tollywood debut: I was under the pressure to deliver as the director had high expectations on me

Tamil actor Pavel, who played the main antagonist in Sridevi Soda Center, which released recently, is happy that he received words of appreciation from veteran technicians who worked in the film. The movie directed by Karuna Kumar marks the actor's Telugu debut, too. According to Pavel, his foray into Tollywood with Sridevi Soda Center reminded him of the happiness he enjoyed with his Tamil debut, the Karthi-starrer Madras. 

He says, "All actors strive to get recognized in every nook and corner of the world. I consider my debut in Telugu as the major step towards that. The film's director Karuna said that I was brought on board to play the main antagonist because he liked my works in Tamil. That was a big recognition for me as I'm yet to play a full-fledged villain role in Kollywood." 

The actor, who made his directorial debut with V1 Murder Case in 2019, says that he has always ensured that there are notable changes in every roles he take up, in terms of appearance, body language or the dialect in which he speaks. In Sridevi Soda Center, he speaks in Rajahmundry dialect and gained a few kilos for the role he played. 

He adds, "I did not know a word in Telugu and didn't step out, except for shooting, from my room. As the director had high expectations on me, I was under the pressure to deliver. At one point, I thought of quitting the film as I felt the stress was unbearable. Unlike Tamil, I realized that I am not able to manage the situation when I forget my dialogue." 

Pavel says he had to byheart his lines and kept wondering about the expression he should give for every word. In fact, it was a few of his well-wishers who kept him motivated saying that the project may be a big break for him and that he should not quit, no matter what. Later, he came to know that composer Mani Sharma and editor Sreekar Prasad liked his performance during the re-recording. 

He says excitedly, "Mani sir appreciated me directly, something which I consider as a remarkable moment. I received a warm welcome from the team before the project went on floors. I was happy to notice that they showered me with more respect after the movie was wrapped up. I was really moved when some of the crew members said I can't work in Tamil for sometime as I will be busy in Tollywood for a few years."    

Sridevi Soda Center will be streaming on Zee5 soon.