Y Revanth: It took me a while to say yes to acting

Son of producer Yalamanchili Sai Babu, Y Revanth is all set to make his acting debut in K Raghavendra Rao's Intinta Annammayya directed by 

After schooling in Ooty and Chennai, Revanth did his under-graduate studies in New Zealand and Masters in UK. An avid traveller, he was working as a journalist writing several articles for magazines.

 Later he got involved in the production of Sriramarajyam which was produced by his father .

In this interview, Revanth  touches upon his initial years, his foray into acting and his maiden film Intinta Annammayya releasing on June 21.

You helped your father in the production of Sriramarajyam. What prompted you to get into acting?

That was a few years ago. I was keen on doing serious journalism. I interned with CNN and CNBC and I wrote a lot of travel articles for many magazines.

I never really thought of getting into movies. But Sriramamrajyam taught me a lot and one thing led to another.

There was a lot of peer pressure at the same time. When the chance came this time, I thought why not? I did not want to regret later.

Could you talk a bit about yourself and how you got interested in journalism?

I like to learn about different cultures. Rather than simply going to the cities I backpack most of the time. That's where you get first-hand experience of different cultures.

I spoke to students from different camp sites and I used all that in my travel articles.

You are being launched by K Raghavendra Rao who is instrumental in launching many a hero. Was that a deliberate decision or was it coincidence?

I would say it is a coincidence. My dad made me meet the director once. We had a general discussion. Nothing materialised then. My Dad met him aagain and Raghavendra Rao garu told him that he should give it a try.

Then my Dad spoke to me. I was still sceptical as I was not sure if I wanted to get into it.

So, how did Intinta Annammayya happen?

When my Dad heard the script from Raghavendra Rao garu, he loved it. My dad was confident of producing this flm. He said even if I was not doing the film, he would make it with someone else.

The subject was so fresh compared to the movies you see these days. Looking at the heavy performance required I was sceptical, being a newcomer. I wondered if I could pull off something this big. I took a couple of days to say yes.

How would you describe the film?

It's a very feel-good film. It's got all the elements to attract various audiences. It's quite different.

You play a rockstar in the film. What was that like?

Yes, I do. My character wants to promote our old cultural music with the new age fusion kind of thing. The film portrays the highs and lows he faces as he struggles to promote this kind of music.

Did you train as an actor?

I took an acting course much before I signed a film. I was with Mr Sathyanand in Vizag. He has trained a lot of stars in the film industry.

Also, the director got me involved with the various departments of the film to understand the character. I had my inputs too.

What did you imbibe from Raghavendra Rao?

I would say, quite a lot. Creative wise, you have to be on top of the game and at the same time being calm is the most important thing.

You are acting with two heroines, Ananya and Sanam Shetty. What was that like?

It was fabulous. Ananya is very expressive. She has acted in a lot of movies and she is one of the most amazing persons I have met. Sanam was also good to work with.

Keeravani has composed music for this film. He's created wonderful fusion music...

He has done a fabulous job. If you see the amount of research he has done for this film, it is amazing. There are some 32,000 odd kirtanas of Annammayya and out of that they did research to select songs apt for the situations in the film.

They had to mix and match the songs and also ensure people don't get offended. Classical music is mixed with fusion music. It's very carefully woven in.

One thing about Keeravani garu is he speaks his mind. It was fun to interact with him and there was a lot I could learn from him.

The city is painted with posters of you. How does it feel?

(Laughs) It's something new for me. I am a quiet kind of guy, never coming out much. Because of the billboards, a lot of people recognise me.

I have to give it to the producer for doing the publicity. It's also about putting the movie out, which is important.

It's good to be known. I am looking forward to D-day.  

Do you want to continue acting?

Why not? If creative subjects keep coming my way I am keen to do them. But I am not going to leave travelling and writing articles.

What do you like to do in your free time besides travelling and writing?

I normally go surfing. It's one of the happiest things I do. When in India, it's about catching up on lots of books, learning different things.

While shooting in Vizag, I was happy to meet Bharadwaj from Andhra Pradesh who had travelled the globe on a bike. The kind of pictures he had, the stories and videos, were fabulous.