T-town seniors go spiritual

A spiritual wave seems to have hit T-Town of late. Soon after the release of Balakrishna���s mythological film ���Sri Rama Rajyam���, Tollywood���s two other senior A-listers ��� Nagarjuna and Venkatesh ��� are all set to play spiritual gurus.
For Nagarjuna, this is no new genre. He had delivered hits like ���Annamayya��� and ���Sri Rama Dasu��� almost a decade ago.Currently, he is working on the look for his next film that is based on the life of Shiridi Sai Baba. Nagarjuna says, ���I had earlier played the role of saints like Annamayya and Sri Rama Dasu, but playing the role of Shirdi Sai, who is perceived as a deity, is a challenge for me. I was a little apprehensive to take up the role initially when Raghavendra Rao discussed the script with me.���
However, Venkatesh will be doing his first ���spiritual��� film after playing the typical hero for 25 years in the industry. ���It has always been my dream to play Swami Vivekananda and I have waited for a long time to get a well-researched script. I���m glad Mani Shankar is directing my film,��� says Venkatesh.
Script writer Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, who is working on Nag���s film, sees this as a positive new trend in Tollywood. ���It���s good to see big stars willing to shed their commercial image and do films that are historical, meaningful and that highlight our traditional and cultural values.���