Ahead of the theatrical release of 'Love Story', Naga Chaitanya talks about the movie, why it is unique, work experience with Sekhar Kammula, Sai Pallavi, and more. He also throws light on his upcoming projects.

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I am confident about the quality of 'Love Story'. The advance bookings are encouraging in the first weekend. It has to be seen how the film will fare from Monday onwards. I hope strong content is going to draw the family audience to the theatres.

It's not true that we have shot two climaxes. Only one climax was shot, but a reshoot was done for better output. Since the lockdown offered us enough time to improvise, we revisited the content during the pandemic.

'Love Story' touches upon caste and gender issues in a refreshing way. Our society deems these issues as sensitive. But we need to talk about them. When I read articles on the issues, I kind of feel uncomfortable.

'Love Story' is a realistic drama. Mounica (Sai Pallavi) and Revanth (Chay) are slice-of-life characters. The former comes from an upper-caste family. Through Mounica, an important social issue has been dealt with.

The film industry has been in the doldrums for the past 1.5 years. This film should become a hit for the industry.

I love it if movies are realistic. But only some filmmakers prefer the style. 'Majili' was realistic to an extent. And 'Love Story' is more realistic.

I worked on the Telangana accent for three months. I read about the struggles faced by lower-middle-class people. We had ample time for dubbing. So, we could work on the dubbing in leisure. If my body language is different, it's again thanks to Kammula sir. He didn't want me to behave as I have done before.

Both my character and the content drew me into the subject intensely. Kammula sir's personality and dedication also made me tell myself that I should give the movie even 200 days if necessary. Since Kammula sir believes that shooting in live locations can be infectious, he shot the film in real locations. This is not possible every time, though.

Trends are changing these days. Films are ceasing to be larger-than-life. The other day, Sukumar sir was telling me that he made 'Rangasthalam' in a realistic manner because the audience are loving realistic movies.

I don't chase numbers and box office openings. I don't differentiate between big and small movies. I want to work with all good directors. If a pan-India flick is made for the sake of it, the film might not take care of regional sensibilities. My aim for now is to entertain the Telugu audience.

Working on 'Laal Singh Chadhha' was a great experience. I learned a great deal from Aamir Khan sir for the 45 days that I worked with him.

Audiences have loved me more in love stories. At the same time, as an actor, I love to do movies that talk about social issues and human emotions. After working with Kammula sir, my perspective has undergone a change. As it is, there is OTT these days. The younger generation wants refreshing content. It's our responsibility to cater to them.

My character falls in love with Mounica after making a mark as a Zumba instructor. Once he falls in love, he goes through a lot of struggles. His pent-up emotions come to the fore at a point. The scene will be special. The first half of the movie has got a lot of dance and zumba thrown in.

'Love Story' is the first time that I have shared screen space with a mother character in many scenes. (Eswari Rao has played Chay's mother in the movie)

'Bangarraju' is content-based. I loved 'Soggade Chinni Nayana' and wanted the franchise to flourish. The characters from 'SCN' will remain in 'Bangarraju'. But the story is totally fresh. 'Thank You' is almost done. Depending on how the theatrical collections are going to be, its release date will be decided. The web series with director Vikram Kumar is not going to be a regular horror series. It has got a supernatural element. It is commissioned by Amazon Prime.

I am waiting for the audience's feedback on my performance in 'Love Story'. I am satisfied that I have pulled it off. Usually, I am anxious about watching my performance in the Edit room. But, while doing 'Love Story', I slept peacefully every night without any worries.

The advance bookings for 'Love Story' in the US are high because of Brand Kammula. All the credit goes to him.