Abhimanyu Singh on reuniting with Pawan Kalyan for OG after Gabbar Singh: ‘He hasn't changed at all, but he's busier’

Abhimanyu Singh tells Hindustan Times all about his Malayalam debut with L2: Empuraan, his upcoming projects in Telugu and Hindi, and more.

Since his debut with the 2001 film Aks, Abhimanyu Singh has made a name for himself not just in Hindi cinema but also in Telugu, Tamil and a few Kannada films. The actor is now pumped to debut in Malayalam too with Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Mohanlal-starrer L2: Empuraan, summing up the shooting experience for it as ‘unbelievable’. (Also Read: Game of Thrones actor Jerome Flynn talks about being cast in Mohanlal's L2 Empuraan, his spiritual connection to India)

Abhimanyu Singh has films in Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi lined up.

Abhimanyu tells Hindustan Times all about his Malayalam debut ahead of its release on March 27. He also talks about his upcoming films in Hindi and Telugu, and more.

Abhimanyu Singh on his Malayalam debut

Ask Abhimanyu why he said yes to Empuraan, and the actor says he has always ‘appreciated Malayalam films in terms of content’. “There was a time when the Malayalam film industry had the reputation of not having good budgets. However, no one could deny that they made good films every year in terms of creativity,” he explains, adding, “Empuraan is about to change all that because it’s one of the costliest films from the film industry. In fact, I felt like I was shooting for a Hollywood film, not a Mollywood one!”

For Abhimanyu, the fact that he got to work with Prithviraj and Mohanlal was also a bonus. “I’ve watched Lucifer (2019), so I think Prithviraj is a very talented actor and director. He’s a good actor himself, which makes him a great director. It’s so easy to work with him because he knows exactly what he wants. He’s just bang on every time. As for Mohanlal, working with him was a blast too. It was such a professional and wonderful experience when it comes to my debut,” says the actor.

Reuniting with Pawan Kalyan after years

While Abhimanyu was introduced in Telugu with the 2010 bi-lingual Rakta Charitra, his claim-to-fame there was when he played the villainous Siddhappa Naidu in the 2012 film Gabbar Singh, an adaptation of Salman Khan’s Dabangg. More than a decade later, Abhimanyu is reuniting with his Gabbar Singh co-star Pawan Kalyan for Sujeeth’s upcoming gangster film, They Call Him OG.

The actor says that even after all these years, he sees no difference in Pawan, except that, of course, he’s busier now as the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. “It was very pleasant meeting Pawan again after all these years. I’m waiting now to wrap up the final schedule,” he says, adding, “I don’t see much of a change in him as a person, other than that he’s very busy now due to politics. But he’s trying to strike the right balance between films and politics. As for my role in the film, I don’t want to reveal much, but it’s like nothing I’ve ever played.”

Abhimanyu has also wrapped up shooting and dubbing for Shravan Tiwari’s Cocaine, a film he has co-produced with his wife, Sargam Singh. He is also starring in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lahore 1947 with Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta, produced by Aamir Khan. “I play the main antagonist in Lahore 1947, and it’s such a good role. Cocaine is a hard-hitting film about the underbelly of Mumbai involving the mafia and the cops. But more than anything, I can’t wait to be back in Hyderabad again because it’s become like a second home for me, and I love my fans there,” he rounds off.