He is not shy but he doesn’t interact or socialise much but he has his own set of friends who are not from the industry. In his free time he loves to travel abroad and carry his own luggage. Talk about his ‘most eligible bachelor’ tag and Ram Pothineni says he isn’t ready for it yet . “I am not in a mood to find the right girl; it is not going to work out considering the tight schedules I am working in. It wouldn’t be fair to get into a relationship and not invest time on it,” he says. He loves to be busy throughout the year, work in three films but will not sign anything just to be in circulation. The script has to be exciting enough to push him to work late night or early morning shifts.
Ram has been interspersing his career with different genres, but the last three films didn’t do well, he analyses, “ Endukante Premanta is an experimental film dealing with soul etc, Ongole Gittha was a youngster’s story in a mirchi yard; then my role in Masala has a gay character track. No Telugu hero has tried it, but don’t know why it didn’t work. I don’t mind making experimental films but I need to think about the families whose lives are dependent on the film’s result. It is my responsibility to ensure their safety, artistic satisfaction comes later.”
His next outing, Pandaga Chesuko is synonymous with celebrations. Ram reveals that wherever the hero is present, a festive atmosphere pervades. Ask him when was the last time he celebrated, he quips, “ Nenu actor ayinappudinundi pandaga chesukuntaney vunnanu (I have been celebrating ever since I became an actor) . Leaving hits, flops aside, becoming an actor itself is a big thing for me. I am very happy with my life. The pre-release talk is positive, Gopi handled it really well. This script was bought by me in 2013 summer by writer Veligonda Srinivas; I purchased it the very next morning . Before Masala I realised that I should be buying scripts and embark on the project the moment I find a director. Earlier the producer would set up a hero and director and then identify a story. I will now speed up the process; of course I have dumped stories when they get outdated. We are losing money but the end of the day work satisfaction matters. The scripts that I finalised were Pandaga Chesko , Sivam and Hari Katha .”
Doing three films, including acting in all three and producing two projects proved very hectic. Ram did that to cover the gap created by two industry strikes when the dates of artistes went into . He elaborates, “On April 10th I was shooting for Hari Katha in Pollachi, next day for Sivam and on 12th I was shooting for Pandaga Chesko .. I have always played roles that connected with the mass, here the hero is filthy rich bur his role is designed to appeal to the mass. So far I haven’t worn blazers for class characters. He is too smart a guy who sets up a company when he is still in the twenties. He is self made guy; it is more today kind of story. I lost 9 kilos, I wanted to look trim. In Devadas I did Nunchaku fights, here too I trained for it and made an effort to take it to the next level.”
