Working in director Tharun Bhascker’s Telugu crime comedy Keedaa Cola, which releases on November 3, has been a homecoming for Raghu Ram. The Mumbai-based television producer and actor popularly known for MTV Roadies recalls getting a call, ‘There is a Telugu fi….’. Even before the sentence was completed, Raghu had said yes. Not many are aware of Raghu’s Telugu origin. He has acted in Hindi, Punjabi and, recently, the Tamil film Doctor, but reckons that no one had approached him for a Telugu film. “My father, who passed away two years ago, would have been so happy to see me in a Telugu film,” says Raghu, talking to The Hindu.
He had said yes blindly and was in for a surprise when the script was sent to him in Hindi. “They (Tharun’s team) did not know my Telugu connection.” He read the Hindi translation of the script and found it “hilarious”. He did not know of Tharun or his earlier smash hits, Pelli Choopulu and Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi. “Tharun told me that his friends pooled in funds for this film and I thought they were a bunch of kids, film graduates. I even considered offering a big discount on my fee,” Raghu recalls with a laugh.
Raghu plays a character called Shots, a conflict manager. “Shots is a deadly guy. You should pray that you never meet him because if you do, your countdown has begun. He is like an attack dog — ferocious, almost rabid.”
