Pan-Indian actors have a lot more options to choose from: Dheekshith Shetty

A TV star turned film actor in the Kannada film industry, Dheekshith Shetty is now making headway into Telugu films. “I think my dream run began with the response people had to the role I played in the Kannada film Dia. It showed a whole different side to me and that led to me making headway into Telugu filmdom. I had done three movies there before my more recent film Dasara, which was released in over five languages.However, post this film, it’s as if the perceptions that people have had of me as an actor just flipped. It’s as if all these years, life was preparing me for the character I played in Dasara. I will gratefully accept that it’s a film that completely changed things around for me as an actor,” states Dheekshith, who is now starring in The Girlfriend, a film in which he pairs with Rashmika Mandanna and is gearing up for his Malayalam debut Oppees along with Shine Tom Chacko,” he says. Excerpts from a conversation with the actor:

‘It feels great to be able to have the liberty to choose the scripts I want’
Though not pitched as a pan-Indian film, Dia was watched by people from across industries. Dasara, which was made in different languages, fetched me not just fame but also options from different languages and filmmakers. This wasn’t the case when I began my career in theatre and television. Now, it feels good to have so many offers and the liberty to choose a script that I like.
‘Kannadigas working across languages raised further interest in Kannada films’
Today with OTT and pan-India films, we are not bound by barriers anymore. So while we are happy to do films on the home turf, when we work in different languages, the people there become aware of our actors and thus, interest rises in our films. If this isn’t progress, what is?