Off the Beaten Path

NAGA CHAITANYA MAKES HIS STREAMING DEBUT WITH DHOOTHA, WHERE HIS CHARACTER IS IN STARK CONTRAST TO HIS ROMANTIC HERO IMAGE IN TELUGU CINEMA

- Suhani Singh

An actor turning up on time for an interview is such a rarity that by now the Mumbai press circle has reluctantly made peace with 'Bollywood Standard Time. Telugu actor Naga Chaitanya though doesn't abide by it even if he is in Mumbai to promote his streaming debut, Dhootha (Amazon Prime), and has one Hindi film to his credit, Laal Singh Chaddha. He walks into a banquet hall at ITC Maratha dot at 10 am.

With Dhootha (releasing on December 1), a Telugu supernatural thriller, the actor joins a small legion of South actors (Rana Daggubati, Nithya Menen, Arya to name a few) who have jumped on the OTT bandwagon to do shows in the region's many languages. Doing a web series was a no-brainer for the 37-year-old actor as it gave him more screen time to explore his craft. "It was never like 'Should I be doing this at this point of my career?" he says. "I was very clear that [on OTT] I don't want to do the kind of roles I'm doing in cinema. I'd like to come out of my comfort zone and do what I cannot do on the big screen."