'This is the most difficult character I have played': Ram Charan actor of RRR on Peddi

Dubai: Ram Charan has done blockbusters. He has done RRR. He has done Rangasthalam. And yet, standing on the other side of Peddi, he is saying something he has never quite said before: that this one changed him.

In an interview with India Today ahead of the film's June 4 release, the actor was unusually candid about what the role took out of him, and what it gave back. "I am very fortunate to be playing the character. We are representing a section of people that are unheard, who need the voice and need the recognition. And to play a character like that, which is very necessary in a country like India. I feel very proud and fortunate to come across a role like this," he said.

He did not stop there. He called Peddi "the most difficult character I played," and said getting into the skin of the character was as interesting as it was demanding. "I learnt a lot as an actor during the journey of the film," he said, adding that he felt he had upped his game while working on it. The journey, he said, was satisfying not just as an actor but also as a person.

The injury he hid from himself

The most striking moment of the interview came when Charan spoke about his wrist injury, and just how far he pushed through it. The injury happened three or four days before the team was due to shoot the wrestling sequence, which is among the film's most physically demanding portions.

"I heard a click that felt like a cartilage tear," he said. He then made a deliberate decision not to get an MRI, knowing that a diagnosis would sit in the back of his mind while filming. He chose not to know. "It was one tear, but now it's seven tears because of the 20 days of shoot. I just had to get through the film and wanted it to come on June 4," he said.

That wrist injury was not the only one. A source close to the production confirmed to India Today that Charan also sustained an eye injury during an action sequence earlier in March, requiring four sutures above the eye. He continued shooting.

What keeps him grounded

"My co-actors humble me a lot. Working with great talents humbles me, great success humbles me and somebody like my father at home, all these things humble me. I am humbled by all of this. So how can you be anything but have gratitude and be humbled," he said.

At a recent press meet, Charan revealed he spent nearly 285 days shooting the film, while director Buchi Babu Sana dedicated almost five years to shaping the story. He spoke about Peddi with the quiet certainty he has previously reserved for projects he knew were special, comparing his confidence in it to the feeling he had while working on Magadheera, Rangasthalam and RRR. 

Coming from someone who has made some of Indian cinema's biggest films, that is not a small thing to say.

Peddi is directed by Buchi Babu Sana and also stars Janhvi Kapoor, Boman Irani and Divyenndu. It releases in cinemas on June 4, with premiere screenings on June 3.