Om Namo Venkatesaya will be another stand out film for me: Nagarjuna

The fourth devotional film starring actor Akkineni Nagarjuna in the direction of K Raghavendra Rao- 'Om Namo venkatesaya' is releasing on February 10. The movie is a screen adaptation of the life of Hathiram Baba, an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara. In a recent interaction with the press, Nagarjuna gets talking about his role as Hathiram Baba and how it has been working with Raghavendra Rao after delivering hits like Annamayya, Shiridi Sai and Sri Ramadasu on the same lines.
'Om Namo Venkatesaya remains a film that stands out in my career. The movie depicts the relationship between Baba and Lord Venkateswara. Like all the previous films on devotional lines, this movie too, is high on emotions and none other than Raghavendra Rao has this impeccable quality of presenting devotional drama in a high-end commercial format', shared the actor, who added that it was the director's idea to grow beard for the character.
Speaking about his co-stars, Nagarjuna said, Pragya Jaiswal played the role of Baba's sister-in-law and there wouldn't be any romance between me and the actresses. Anushka's character is that of a disciple of Lord Vishnu who guides Hathiram Baba. While not much of information was available about Baba, we managed to make the most out of what we could find. Music of M M Keeravani just enhanced the complete film and pushed it to a next level. 'Govinda Namalu' and 'Anandam' song are my personal favorites, he pointed.
Nagarjuna, who has been dabbling with various kinds of characters viz; Soggade Chinni Nayana, Manam, and Oopiri however was reluctant while the script first approached him. 'I was not interested when the story was suggested because I had worked on 'Annamayya' before. After they insisted me on listening to the script, I found it surprising that there is no similarity between Baba and Annamayya. That is when I decided to go for it', he recalls.
When asked him about how Raghavendra Rao has portrayed the character of Hathiram Baba in 'Om Namo Venkatesaya', the actor replied that the relationship between Lord Venkateswara and Baba was quite unusual and amusing.
'Saurabh Raj Jain is what we felt an apt face to be shown as Lord Venkateswara since the Venkateswara Swamy is known to be 'Nitya Yavvanudu' (Ever young). Saurabh performed well in his role and you will agree on it after you watch the film', said Nagarjuna when asked about why a Hindi TV artiste was cast to play Lord venkateswara Swamy.
Adding that the movie will be released in Tamil and Hindi (dubbed version) after February 10, Nagarjuna went on to say that the response to movie's audio has surprised them. He exuded confidence that people will surely admire the movie as they did for 'Manam' and 'Oopiri'.
About his upcoming projects-'Raju gari Gadhi-2' and 'Bangarraju', the actor revealed- 'Shooting for a horror comedy, referring to 'Raju gari Gadhi-2' is quite exciting as I just finished doing a devotional film (smiles). My fans might have calculated my guest appearances as well and thus are calling 'Bangarraju' my 100^th one. However, I am keen on my 100^th film and will announce it later', he shared.
On a personal note, when quizzed about how he feels after his sons got engaged, Nagarjuna quips, 'I am the happiest person right now. I feel both Chay and Akhil are quite happy with the way their lives are turning out. I wish they should be happy all the time.'