Adivi Sesh who essayed the role of 26/11 hero Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan in Sashi Kiran Tikka’s Major, spoke about how the film changed his life.
Adivi Sesh’s 2022 release Major received appreciation from every nook and corner. Helmed by Sashi Kiran Tikka, the biopic based on the life of 26/11 hero Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan had the actor essaying the lead role. As the film clocked one year today, the actor opened up on how it affected his life in an interview with a leading publication.
The Kshanam actor told indianexpress.com, “Recently, I had the opportunity to meet our former President Ram Nath Kovind ji. Everywhere I go, be it ministers, businessman, politicians, especially people in defence services, the sort of respect I get… I could have done 100 commercial blockbusters, but this is the blockbuster that gave me the respect I sought.”
He shared that during the course of the making of the film, he developed a close bond with Unnikrishnan’s parents who are based in Bangalore.
Adivi was quoted as saying, “I think I am just most thankful for my bond with Sandeep sir’s parents. They attended my sister’s wedding. I think there is a sense of belonging. A sense that I belong to them and they are my own. I think that has largely been my biggest takeaway from Major.”
Speaking about Major being his first major pan-India release, he added, “I think it’s interesting because I feel introduced to Hindi audience in a very simple, clear cut manner, with an extremely big scale honorable film. This is very different from my Telugu journey because my Telugu fans saw me as a villain in cinema first, then saw me star as lead actor in smaller films and then the films progressively got bigger. So, it’s a very different perception. Now, I am finding lot of Hindi audiences going back and looking for my Telugu films.”
According to the actor, the success of Major added to the diversity that South film industries have to offer.
Elaborating on the same, he continued, “From Kanyakumari to Kashmir or even Kansas (the actor was brought up in the US), whoever has seen it has realized that there is not just one kind of cinema you can expect from the South. We make great love stories, we can make a war film, we can make a mass masala film, we can make a thriller and action film.”
Besides Adivi Sesh, Major also featured Saiee Manjrekar, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prakash Raj and Revathy in prominent roles. The actor has now all his attention on his upcoming film, Godachari 2.