I am partial towards Telugu version of Jaguar: Nikhil Kumar

Being born into the lap of luxury doesn't always ensure that you will never have to struggle. Nikhil Kumar, the son of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, found that out the hard way, when he decided that it was a career in films, and not politics, that he wanted. For over a year, Nikhil's been training for his film debut ' the big-ticket Kannada-Telugu

bilingual

production, Jaguar. From intense workouts to help him shed flab (he was nearly 95 kgs when he started out) and get in shape, to specific training schedules in martial arts, dance and drama, the youngster has had his work cut out for him. And now, 110 days into the making of

Jaguar

, Nikhil tells us that the struggle was worth it and that his efforts have paid off. In a quick chat with us during a break from the shoot of the film in Mysuru, Nikhil tells us about the journey so far. Excerpts....

The making of Jaguar
We've shot for 110 days and need at least another 60 to complete the film. We are looking at a Dasara release. After all the training I underwent before we began shooting, I thought I was ready for the job, but I now realize how much of a learning experience the actual shooting has been. Considering that we are making both the

Kannada

and

Telugu

versions simultaneously, I am often doing a lot of scenes twice over with different co-stars, which makes it as good as working on two films. I have shot for a couple of songs and action sequences as well, so these past four months have almost made me an all-rounder, as I have tried my hand at everything ' romance, action, dance and drama. One thing I noticed, though, is that I found shooting for the Kannada version easier, as the language comes naturally to me. So I ended up putting in a little extra effort for Telugu. I spent more time memorizing my lines and rehearsing the scenes. Also, considering that I was acting with a lot of senior artistes who may not take kindly to too many retakes, I had to ensure that I was prepared in every possible way. In fact, sometimes I feel that I may have just concentrated a wee bit more on the Telugu version.

Destination

Tollywood

I want to belong to Kannada cinema, but I also want a strong foothold in the Telugu film industry. My aim is to be a commercial hero, and the best way forward is to do bilinguals (one of which will be Kannada) all the time, preferably with a director from Tollywood helming it. I need to do well there, which is probably why I am a little partial towards the Telugu version of Jaguar.

Talented supporting cast
I have worked with artistes like Jagapati Babu,

Raghupati Babu

, Brahmanandam, Aditya Menon, Bhajarangi Loki, Adarsh, Sadhu Kokila, Vinayak Joshi. I enjoyed working with Raghu sir the most, because with comedy, it is all about spontaneity and not so much about getting your lines right. I was struggling a bit with Telugu, but he helped me give the best shots. Similarly, for an action sequence involving a one-on-one fight with Loki, he was super supportive and ready to try anything without a body double to make it stand out. That kind of cooperation enhances the film.

The road ahead
I am looking at doing more bilinguals, probably Kannada-Telugu films. But the focus will be on finishing each film in, say, 120 days, at the most. With Jaguar we have exceeded that, primarily because we wanted rich production values to show onscreen. Going forward, we will continue to make big-budget films. I am an actor, but I am also a businessman at heart, and for the investment we have made on this film, we can expect returns only if it clicks in Telugu as well. Sandalwood, unfortunately, is still a relatively small market. We have about 300 screens, from which it is next to impossible to recover your costs, whereas a Telugu release will get you over 1,000 screens in that state. It just makes better business sense. I can't expect my father to keep putting in his money on my film career and not make any money.
I also want to do a variety of roles and not find a comfort zone for myself. In due course, I would want to do smaller offbeat films, made only for the Kannada market, as well, but not immediately. Right now, the focus is to go big.