The excitement surrounding Mega Power Star Ram Charan’s upcoming rural action drama Peddi continues to amplify as its release date approaches. Directed by Buchi Babu Sana, the highly anticipated project is bankrolled by Venkata Satish Kilaru under the Vriddhi Cinemas banner and presented jointly by Mythri Movie Makers and Sukumar Writings.
With a roaring trailer and chart-buster music already dominating the charts, the film is locked for a grand worldwide theatrical debut on June 4. Ahead of the release, veteran actor Versatile Star Jagapathi Babu sat down for a press conference to share his experiences playing a pivotal, transformative character in the movie.
Crafting the Character of Appalasuri
Jagapathi Babu revealed that his character, Appalasuri, features a depth, look, and emotional arc unlike anything he has attempted before. The entire credit for envisioning the character goes to director Buchi Babu Sana.
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The Transformation: To achieve the unique look, the production brought on board National Award-winning makeup artist Rasheed. The daily transformation required a grueling three-hour prosthetic makeup session, which occasionally caused skin irritation and rashes.
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The Character Arc: Clarifying speculations, the actor revealed that he does not play a conventional father figure. Instead, his character shares a beautiful, deeply emotional bond rooted in affection with Ram Charan's character.
Jagapathi Babu on his Career Benchmarks: "Since my performance in Legend, I have done numerous movies, but only about six of them truly stay with me. In that elite list, Appalasuri in Peddi will undisputedly occupy the number one spot. When you watch the film, Jagapathi Babu will completely disappear, and only the character will remain on screen."
Technical Rigor: A Grueling Dubbing Experience
While the actor has previously found the dubbing for Aravinda Sametha to be the most challenging of his career, he stated that Peddi demanded significantly more effort.
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The Accent and Tone: Capturing the authentic regional dialect was a meticulous process. The actor recalled instances where he spent an entire day inside the dubbing studio to perfect just two lines of dialogue to ensure the voice carried the precise magic of the character.
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The Sukumar-Buchi Babu School of Filmmaking: Drawing a parallel between the clarity of the mentor-disciple duo, the actor recalled a unique lesson he learned from Sukumar during Pushpa's post-production. Sukumar had intuitively instructed him over a voice note to stand up and walk while delivering lines to capture the correct physical texture in the audio. He noted that Buchi Babu Sana carries that same uncompromising clarity, making an actor's job highly rewarding.
Praise for Ram Charan and the Creative Team
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Ram Charan's Growth: Reconnecting with the actor after Rangasthalam, Jagapathi Babu expressed immense admiration for his warm personality and work ethic. He noted that Ram Charan refused to use body doubles for the high-intensity action sequences, enduring real physical impact, cuts, and bruises to keep the frames authentic.
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The Production Values: The veteran actor highly commended producer Venkata Satish Kilaru for his uncompromised dedication to the script, noting that Ram Charan fully honored an old commitment to the producer to make this massive project a reality. He also credited cinematographer Rathnavelu for bringing immense positive energy to the sets and A.R. Rahman for delivering an album that has already secured half the film's success.
Industry Outlook and Upcoming Work
Concluding on a highly confident note, the actor stated that Peddi is arriving as a breath of fresh air for the Telugu film industry, providing a major cinematic anchor for theatres this season.
On his professional front, alongside his busy film line-up, Jagapathi Babu revealed that he is currently headlining a massive, high-budget digital web series titled Black and White for the streaming platform SonyLIV.
