Interview | Naga Chaitanya reflects on living up to family legacy in 16 years of cinema: ‘I have a long way to go’

In a freewheeling chat with Hindustan Times, Naga Chaitanya reflects on his legacy, his wife Sobhita and dad Nagarjuna being his sounding board and more.

Sixteen years ago, on this day (September 5), when Naga Chaitanya debuted as a spunky student in the 2009 film Josh, fans of the Akkineni clan were overjoyed to see his grandfather Nageswara Rao and father Nagarjuna’s legacy being carried on. He was soon given the moniker ‘Yuva Samrat’ (Young King to match his father’s moniker, King), and Chaitanya remembers the feeling of not wanting to disappoint the fans he had inherited from his family.

Naga Chaitanya reflects on his 16-year career from Josh to Thandel and NC24 in an interview with Hindustan Times.

Today, he feels more surefooted. He delivered the highest-grossing film of his career this year with Thandel (his first ₹100 crore film) and married the love of his life, Sobhita Dhulipala, last year. In a freewheeling chat with Hindustan Times, the actor reflects on the ups and downs of his 16-year career, the legacy he views not as a burden but a responsibility, his wife and dad being his sounding board and more.

Staying hungry as an actor 16 years later

Chaitanya recalls that when he joined Tollywood, he felt a ‘lot of pressure’ that soon turned into a ‘sense of responsibility’. “Coming from a family lineage and having an unconditional fan base that my grandfather and father created…my biggest aim back then was not to disappoint them. To live up to my family’s legacy, however, will take a lot of time. They are so larger-than-life. I am fortunate and gifted to have this kind of fan base, I know that. So if I ever do feel pressure, it’s only to drive me to do better,” says the actor.

Naga Chaitanya in a still from his first film Josh, which released 16 years ago today.

When asked if he is where he imagined he would be 16 years ago, Chaitanya gets refreshingly honest. “I would definitely say there’s still a long way to go in what more I should achieve and the roles I have to play. I’m still very hungry as an actor and a person. It’s healthy for me because it keeps me going, pushes me to do more,” he says, adding, “There have been some very satisfying films through the process, and there have also been learning curves. But when I look back, it’s a very positive feeling of being in the right place.”

From handholding to independence

When Chaitanya entered Tollywood, he admits there was some handholding involved. Which is to be expected, given that his father is an Akkineni and his mother (Lakshmi) is a Daggubati. “Initially, there was a lot of handholding, a lot of conversations about what I was doing. But today dinner table conversations mostly revolve around cinema in general, and not my career. They have encouraged me to grow and take risks, to become my own actor and have my own identity,” he says.

That doesn’t mean that he still doesn’t look to his family for support. “If I am in two minds about a script, I’ll get it narrated to dad or someone else in the family. But the frequency of that has gone down now,” he says, adding, “Sobhita also…she has such a different perspective. I have been conditioned to think through the commercial lens and theatrical standpoint. She has been inclined towards more arthouse and indie. I don’t think much like her, but I enjoy the different take she brings.”

Learning from his failures while moving forward

Despite what Chaitanya has been trained to do, theatrical business is not easy to crack. But he says that more than successes, he has learnt more from his failures. “Every time you fail, you learn something valuable, and it teaches you more than anything. Today, when I listen to a script, I have started to pick and learn what the audience might like. I have learnt that at the end of the day, there’s no formula for success and it works only when the audience connects to a film’s soul,” says the actor.

He says that he has also learnt to adapt to the changing times. “What the audience vibe with changes so often, we have to adapt to that. So much has happened in the last ten years that there’s no language barrier anymore. Our filmmakers here have really opened up Tollywood to India, and with baby steps, to the world. My intuition about such things has become sensitive, and better now. I’m looking for stories that are rooted in our culture, rather than something more staged or stylised,” says Chaitanya.

Seeking out something he hasn’t done

True to his word, the actor did play a fisherman from Srikakulam who drifts into Pakistani waters by mistake this year in Thandel. “A lot of effort was put into Thandel, and it was special in a way because I played a real-life hero. I had also never done a film based on real-life instances. It was a very inspiring journey for me,” he says, adding, “It became my highest-grossing film, and the audiences resonated with it, which was very satisfying.”

Chaitanya’s next film is with Karthik Dandu, director of the 2023 hit film Virupaksha. The actor describes the film as a ‘VFX-heavy mythical thriller’. “It revolves around predictions…predictions that are discovered from many years back that lead my character, Arjun, on a journey. I play a treasure hunter in the film. The film is also looped into our mythology. It is a proper spectacle film that I can’t wait for the audience to experience in theatres,” he says, rounding off.