“Even when I was nobody, my sister recognized me. She was my first audience. Chiranjeevi has been my favorite actor and my inspiration. So, I used to mimic for her, and she would watch me perform. But honestly, back then, nobody knew I would grow up want to be an actor. They thought it was all for fun. Only when I moved to Hyderabad, they understood that I had serious plans.

Coming from a small town in West Godavari, cinema for us is another world. A place you might just get sucked into or a place you might never fit into. Even today, they ask me to ‘settle down’, meaning have a house and a car… but that’s not me. I’m not in films yet, but I’m on my way. YouTube and other platforms of online creative content have saved a lot of our lives. There’s so much more than just cinema where you can still act and make a difference. Also, there are so many people trying hard to be here and I’m blessed to be living this life. But all this didn’t come to me overnight. There was a lot of struggle.. what got me through is dedication and persistence. Initially, I used to be excited about every audition. But after a while, it gets too much. Audition after audition and nothing works out. At one point, I almost broke down. There’s only little hope and patience you have. That’s when my school and college friends helped me. Those were the guys who encouraged me enough for me to come here. They’d call and talk to me often so I don’t lose hope. Meanwhile, Navika Factory and Tamada Media happened and I’m so thankful. Even today they’re the guys who call and say, ‘Wow, your video is so cool!’ But that isn’t the case with family. They’re encouraging, but YouTube is not as known back in our town, as it is here. They think it’s a random job with no regular income. It’ll take time for this kind of content to reach all parts of our state. I don’t explain it too much to my family, because this isn’t my final goal though. I want to be in the cinema. I will be there, soon. ”

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