Bollywood actor Dino Morea made his Telugu acting debut with Agent over the weekend. Shedding his good-boy persona, Dino took on the role of the meaty antagonist in Akhil Akkineni’s starring role. The actor played the role of a highly trained RAW agent who went rogue after the system betrayed him. Although he got his start in Telugu, Dino is no stranger to the film industries of the South. He has worked in Tamil (Kandukondain Kandukondain, 2000, his second film of his career) and Malayalam (Solo, 2017) in the past.
So what took him so long to sign a film in Telugu? Dino exclusively tells News18.com that it was not a deliberate delay. “It took me all this time to be part of a Telugu movie because honestly, I hadn’t been offered any scripts in Telugu before that,” he said.
In his first-ever Telugu film, Dino stars alongside Telugu superstar Nagarjuna’s son, Akhil Akkineni. Asked if the young star looked like he came from a prestigious cinematic family, Dino replied that while he came from an illustrious background, he had never made him feel like one on the sets of filming.
“Working with Akhil has been an absolute delight. Yes, he comes from a big family, he is the son of Nagarjuna but you never got the feeling that the person comes from family royalty, so to speak. He was like all the other young people I worked with. He’s a hard-working, disciplined actor, and he was so into this movie and wanted to prove himself, which was amazing. He never gave anyone on set the impression that he came from that family,” Dino said, adding that they developed a close bond and friendship during the making of the film.
“When I was shooting in Hyderabad, I went to his house once or twice and it was absolutely wonderful like you do with any other friend,” he added.
Besides working with Akhil Akkineni, Dino Morea has also shared scenes with legendary Malayalam actor Mammootty. Speaking about his experience working with him, Dino said, “Working with Mammothy sir is an absolute treat. When you look at someone of his stature, with his talent, and with the number of accolades he’s won for his acting, when you watch them on sets, it’s just stunning. For me, in times like these, I just watch, listen and observe. A few conversations about movies and acting, but it’s mostly about observing, watching, and learning from the best. In my scenes with Mammothy Sir, we were obviously playing opposing characters, to me that was utterly empowering and beautiful. I take it as a challenge because it brings out the best actor in me.”
“I want to be one, I want to be better and I want to prove myself, especially when you have someone like them watching you and listening to your dialogue and you listening to their dialogue and reacting, it’s great, it’s such a healthy environment. Have I intimidated myself? Never at all. First of all, he doesn’t intimidate you, he is very helpful,” he added.
Dino is part of that league of actors who started their career as a model before becoming Bollywood stars. While the transition back then seemed easy, Dino thinks the transition from modeling to acting now might not be the same.
“The transition for me from modeling to music videos to commercials to movies at this point in my career, that was 1999-2000, was easy, fantastic. To be honest, I really don’t know what the situation today, but I think it would be much more difficult because now for anyone to become an actor, we have casting agencies and most of the guys who want to become actors go directly to casting agencies, come from film schools, come from acting schools and they’re exceptional and waiting for an opportunity and they don’t necessarily have to be models first,” he said.
“Back when we started the industry was just opening up and thriving so we got that recognition and we got that recognition and people saw us a lot more than they see role models today, I think. That’s why the transition, in my opinion, was much easier than it is now,” added Dino.
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