Mahesh Vitta : A career in progress

Mahesh Vitta is yet to make it big. The tall and lanky young actor from Proddatur is unperturbed that his last project Krishnarjuna Yuddham tanked at the box office; he can wait for a few months more to get a hit.

With an amazing comic timing, Mahesh Vitta has worked hard to stand out among the current generation of comedians. The actor explains, “What I speak is a Rayalaseema mix. I question people in Chittoor dialect, abuse in Cuddapah style but overall, I made a cocktail out of the both and created my own slang and evolved my own brand.”

Path to movies

On the academic side, he completed his graduation in Proddatur and MCA in Hyderabad and planned to pursue a course in VFX. The actor even did a short film Nenu Palana.

He recollects his association with a company that made videos. “I approached a company who were planning to make videos, I told them I would do any work, I have vision but no knowledge. I suggested they make comedy videos with a new concept. The people hired me and asked me to act in it. Director Teja saw the videos, gave me confidence and told me to have patience and as promised offered me a role in his film Nene Raju Nene Mantri.”

Mahesh Vitta has since worked in 16 films, of which five — Nene Raju Nene Mantri, Meda Meedha Abbayi, Samantakamani, Chalo and Krishnarajuna Yuddham — were released. Simultaneously he did independent short films, around 150 videos and more. “The company that hired me got 10 crore views for 100 episodes by the time I left.” he smiles, adding “I am currently working in Sampat Nandi’s production Paper Boy and Hanu Raghavpudi’s Padi Padi Leche Manasu, where I play a friend to a villain. I want to continue as a comedian for at least four years and then if people get bored with my slang, will try playing character roles. I ultimately want to do roles that Kota Srinivas Rao and Prakash Raj do.”

Quest for variety

Mahesh always gets to play a village simpleton or an innocent character. He quips, “I guess it’s because of my slang. If a role works there is another problem, you get typecast. Tagubothu Ramesh continues to be a drunkard and Saptagiri is always hyper. Some are typecast in police roles. Right now I am getting offers from established directors and I am not in a position to say no. When my friends too turn directors I am hopeful they will give me variety.”

He adds, “A comedian is always standing besides the hero and if he does something foolish, the hero abuses or slaps him; the situation is still the same. Right now it is important for me to get a chance; I can’t pick and choose. I try my level best to perform well, but I know I have a long way to go.”

Mahesh’s family is not interested in cinema, none of them watch movies. For Krishnarjuna Yuddham, he had to book tickets and request his parents and sister to go . He signs off, “What else can I do? If they showed a little interest, they would perhaps understand my passion and I would have got a break long back.”