‘Acting is my true calling’

[1]

Abhinay Vaddi is an actor whose lineage precedes him. The grandson of the legendary actor, Kadhal Mannan and his wife Savithri, Abhinay confesses that he did not want to be an actor in the first place. However, he does admit that acting was his true calling. “I knew that when the time was right it would all fall into place,” he discloses.
Abhinay’s debut will see him essay a poignant role — that of the mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan, in the upcoming biopic Ramanujan. In an exclusive interview, the actor talks about his role and more.

An unconventional debut
I have always been a person who has stood out for what I have done and what I have achieved. Choosing to do a regular run-of-the-mill film, with a chocolate boy image didn’t interest me. I like challenges and when a movie like Ramanujan was offered to me, I grabbed it with all that I had.
Playing a real life character, that too a genius like him, and also this venture being a period film, pushed me to do it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any actor and getting such an opportunity this early in my career is a great honour.

Bagging the role
The director saw my pictures. As quoted by him, he found a similarity between the power in Ramanujan’s eyes and mine.
He conducted some test shoots and found that I suited the role the best as he was very happy with my acting skills.

First impressions
Ramanujan was a genius, an achiever and an autodidact who made extraordinary contributions to the world of mathematics. I have been living with this character for the past six months and have learnt everything about him.
I have grown so much into the character that when I look at myself in the mirror it feels like I’m looking at Ramanujan. Sadly, as an actor I did not have much to work with. I was restricted to the inputs that the director gave me and also my own personal research. I only had three pictures to work with to fix my look and the personality of the genius let alone his mathematical skills.