Mahesh Babu is synonymous with masculine charm in Telugu land. But, as the growing depth and substance of his performances over the past 15 years shows, there’s more to the actor than just good looks. Releasing this week, Spyder, directed by AR Murugadoss, marks yet another milestone for Mahesh – surpassing his earlier blockbusters like Pokiri (2006), Businessman (2012) or Srimanthudu (2015). Having already wowed Tamil and Telugu audiences, it earned $1 million on its debut in US theatres on September 26.
At home, critics are praising the smart, story-focused thriller. “It’s an out-and-out Murugadoss film in the style of Ghajini (2008) or Thupaki (2012), in which he keeps the audience guessing,” Mahesh explained a few days before the film’s release. Just moments before, he had caused a temporary blip in the time-space continuum of Hyderabad simply by stepping outside Annapurna Studios-where he’s shooting another film with director Koratala Siva.
Pumped in anticipation of the audience’s reaction, he says Spyder, shot simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil, was both intense and difficult. “To keep your energies focused for 190 days is not easy,” he says. “It was like making two films.” The story of a cat-and-mouse game between a junior officer in the Intelligence Bureau (Mahesh) and a psychotic villain (S.J. Suryah), Spyder is a thriller, but not a political one.
Murugadoss was reportedly inspired by the enmity between Batman and the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Spyder, too, is a thinking fan’s action movie.
Crediting Murugadoss for the strong script, Mahesh calls it a dream role, especially since he’d been hoping to work with Murugadoss for some 10 years. When it finally happened, Mahesh says, “[Murugadoss] really motivated me to push the envelope.”
Working on back-to-back films, Mahesh hasn’t had a breather for a while. But he is excited about the work coming his way, including a project with S.S. Rajamouli later this year. “I think the south Indian film industry has been booming, especially post-Baahubali.
The crop of new directors making path-breaking films is turning into an interesting trend as well,” he says. An established Telugu star, Mahesh makes his first real entry into the Tamil market with Spyder, so he’s understandably nervous. “You put in your all, but during the two-and-a-half hours it plays in the theatre, it is not in your control,” he says.
Days before the release, he was also waiting for the verdict of the man whose opinion matters to him the most-his father, Krishna, one of Telugu cinema’s biggest ever stars.
“He’s not overt with his appreciation. But if my film does well, I’m invited over for lunch. It’s become a family tradition over the years,” says Mahesh. It is also from his father that he learned to leave work and the superstar image behind when at home.
An actor’s life can be stressful. To keep cool, Mahesh says he practises “present moment awareness”, referring to The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, a book he says changed his life. “I ended up reading quite a few spiritual books back in 2007-08 when I was on a break of sorts,” he says. He doesn’t find too much time to read these days, so his newest addiction is Blinkist, an app that packs the essence of a book in a 15-minute summary.
He’s currently blitzing through Anthony Robbins’s writings on “the incredible potential of the mind”, he says. Whatever he’s doing, it seems to be working-and judging from the early reactions to Spyder, Mahesh has nothing to worry about.
