I don't know how to act, I just keep it real: Nara Rohith

His bassy voice tends to dominate everything Nara Rohith does on the screen, and even when shyly confessing, “I’m yet to learn how to pose for a photograph...” as he poses for our shutterbug. Given a choice, he’d face the camera only when shooting. “I’m completely at ease when I’m facing the camera on a film set,” he adds, flashing a bashful smile, which disappears the moment he starts talking about his upcoming film Asura.
Admittedly, Rohith had to amp up his voice a “notch ‘deeper’ than usual” to convincingly portray the role of this almost maniacal jailer. “It’s an intense role and I fell in love with it the moment I heard the script from Krishna Vijay (director). I play a character named Dharma, who doesn’t tolerate anyone who comes in the way of discharging his duties. To make my role sound more intense, I had to deliver some of the dialogues in a baritone that’s deeper than my usual base voice,” explains Rohith.
Having had six releases in a career spanning six years, Rohith is now venturing into film production with Asura, which is directed by Krishna Vijay, and has Priya Banerjee playing Rohith’s romantic interest.
“When I started off, I was quite clear in my mind that I would be part of some unique projects and my choices were in that direction. To be honest, some films didn’t quite turn out the way I had envisioned and several films got delayed for various reasons. That’s why I decided to dabble with film production as well. Asura is my first project as a producer,” says Nara Rohith, who studied film production in New York before venturing into acting.
“If I wasn’t an actor, I would have been a producer. Initially, I didn’t really know how the industry works, but now that I’ve got a hang of the economics and the intricacies involved in film production, I am more at ease,” he adds.The film is based on the issue of capital punishment. “We haven’t had too many films which deal with a topic like capital punishment. I think that’s what is so interesting about this film,” he says.
When it comes to acting, Rohith prefers to keep things as close to reality as possible. “I don’t know how to act. I just keep it real. When I hear a story, I envision my body language, my slang and how I am going to play the role, and then the director and I reach a common ground about what I should be doing. We discussed a lot about my role and the result has been quite fascinating. It is also my most commercial film till date,” he says.