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Kick of success

Looking ahead Shaam

I am Shaam not Shyam,” says the debut actor of Kick assertively. He’s been getting innumerable congratulatory calls and loads of offers to do Telugu films but Shaam is being very selective . He has signed just one film since Kick released, . He’s good looking, smart and has been walking the ramp since 1980, has done many commercials but it was only in 1999- 2001 he’d started knocking doors with portfolios in hand. Shaam just passed out of college, he’s a B.Com graduate from Bangalore and underwent a course in diction to master Hindi. Apparently Vijay Maaf Karo which is directed by Faizal Saif and in which Shaam plays a Casanova is due for release. There is also a bilingual Aghampuram in which he plays the lead role, he’s done one Kannada and 15 Tamil films.

What took him so long to enter Telugu films? “I’m comfortable in Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi but I had never spoken a word of Telugu. I don’t even remember having a Telugu-speaking friend since childhood. I refused a few Telugu films in the initial days when my career took off basically because I find Telugu a tongue twister. For Kick, I’ve been writing down the dialogues in English and memorising them,” quips Shaam. Shaam had people rooting for him and people gaping at his posters at the audio launch of Kick, it was perhaps the first time he was introduced to the Telugu audiences. The suave actor adds, “I felt as if I was re-born, it was the same appreciation I got for my Tamil debut 12B. Lot of them encouraged me here, they recognised me and said I should do more Telugu films and as far as the Tamil directors are concerned, they are very surprised. They were all praise for Surender Reddy, the director and were wondering how they couldn’t exploit my potential this way despite me staying in Chennai for Tamil projects for five years.” The actor is not keen on solo movies only, he’s willing to do any role that has substance. For him a movie is all about how good his character is conceived, whether negative or positive it doesn’t matter.

Shaam has no qualms revealing his marital and fatherhood status. Yes, he’s the father of a three-year-old girl.. When he’s not shooting in Chennai, Shaam is in Bangalore. He watches a lot of films and Kamal Haasan happens to be his favourite actor.

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