The success of Praveen Sattaru’s ‘PSV Garuda Vega’ has put Adith Arun’s career on track. In the industry for nearly a decade, the suave actor is “busy like never before”. He has just wrapped up ‘24 Kisses’ with National-award winning filmmaker Ayodhya Kumar of ‘Minugurulu’ fame and has commenced shooting for a new film, ‘Hey Dude’. In the former, he plays a children’s filmmaker. “It is an intense adult love story. I’m pulling off an Emraan Hashmi this year,” he chuckles speaking to Telugu360.com. Further, he continues, “It’s about a commitment-phobic guy Anand Kumar and he has his own reasons for it. It’s a very contemporary film and at the risk of not sounding over-confident, I’m sure it will be one of the top ten films of the year. Today, the audience is looking for different content and our film falls in that bracket.”

Was it easy playing a filmmaker since he is an actor? Arun notes that he wanted to be a filmmaker to begin with but fate had other plans for him. “I played a director in my maiden film ‘Katha’, so I kind of carried that experience into this film. Also, I know how eccentric directors are; they are not normal people. They are tuned in a different dimension. The experience of having worked with varied directors in my career came in handy.”

He admits that it was the love story part of ‘24 Kisses’ that got to his nerves. “I had to adapt to the romantic part,” he maintains, adding that he was damn uncomfortable shooting for the kissing portions. “Add to that I have a girlfriend, so I was like, ‘Should I think about her while kissing or shouldn’t I?’ It was a dicey situation to be in. But Kumar’s workshops prior to going to sets helped. He ensured that we didn’t go to sets and say we are uncomfortable with the idea of kissing in a certain way.”

Kumar, Adith informs, is well-versed with his craft. “He is meticulous about small detailing. There are no complex shots in his filmmaking, only complex emotions. His writing has a lot of depth and is very real and raw.”

Having gone on to floors in January, ‘24 Kisses’ was wrapped up last month. Adith points out that it is a Hyderabad-set drama. “Most of our films are set in either Jubilee Hills or slums but ‘24 Kisses’ is set in between and am sure the setting will add a lot to the film. It has been shot by G Uday and people are in for a treat as far as visuals are concerned,” he promises, further revealing that Kumar, for a sub plot, has shot near shores in Dharavi, Mumbai. “The idea was to showcase the dirty side of Mumbai.”

Shifting focus to ‘Hey Dude’, he shares it’s about three losers going on a road trip. “Prince and Priyadarshi are the other leads. Ramesh Samala (of ‘Columbus’ fame) is wielding the megaphone. We will be through with the shooting by August.”

Nagaraj Goud