‘Jr NTR’s affection also has action’: Devi Sri Prasad opens up on his bond with RRR actor

Music composer Devi Sri Prasad and actor Jr NTR’s on-screen relationship goes way back to 2005 when they first collaborated for the Vara Mullapudi directorial Naa Alludu. Since then, the actor-composer combination has produced popular tracks in several films such as Rakhi, Oosaravelli, Janatha Garage, Jai Lava Kusa, Nanaku Prematho and more. Recently, the Pushpa composer spoke to indianexpress.com about his bond with the birthday boy, who turns 38 today.

“Jr NTR is a fireball of energy. You cannot even control him. There is no way to control him,” DSP laughed while talking about Jr NTR.

“He is very affectionate,” DSP shared explaining that whenever he is in Hyderabad, the actor always invites him home. “Whenever I am in Hyderabad, he calls up and says, Vasthava raava? Champestha! (Will you come or not? Else, I will kill you)’. I call him Thalaiva. So, I always joke with him that Thalaiva your affection is also like action,” DSP smiled.

The music composer said that he and Jr NTR usually converse in Tamil because the two grew up in Chennai. He went on to talk about how the RRR actor is like his family.

“He cooks biryani for me. His hospitality is amazing. I know his mother very well too. So, he is like a family. He is the only person who calls me Devs. He would tell me how we are similar, how our struggles have been similar, how our journey has been the same and our love for cinema is the same. He is a very warm person,” the “Choti Choti Baatein” singer expressed.

WATCH | Devi Sri Prasad talks about recreating ‘Seeti Maar’ for Salman Khan’s Radhe 

DSP, who has composed for Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan and several other A-listers including Salman Khan in Bollywood, spoke about his ambition to compose for Rajinikanth. The music composer said, “I have been one of the music composers who has been able to work with every superstar from different generations. But I have not composed music for Rajinikanth sir yet. I did get an opportunity but because of something or the other, things didn’t happen. But I hope they happen so.”

On the work front, Devi Sri Prasad composed “Seeti Maar” for Salman Khan’s latest release Radhe Your Most Wanted Bhai. The song, which is a recreated version of Allu Arjun’s song, received mixed reactions. Talking about the criticism, DSP said, “We expected the criticism. And I believe the easiest thing is to criticise. And when you recreate or remake a film, even if it is well made, it receives criticism. The same happens with a song. I don’t get bothered by it.”

Devi Sri Prasad is also composing for Allu Arjun’s Pushpa and Pawan Kalyan’s next with Harish Shankar. Jr NTR, on the other hand, is looking forward to the release of SS Rajamouli film RRR. The actor in an interview recently spoke about how the filmmakers are determined to release the magnum-opus on the big screens.

“RRR was never considered for an OTT release. There are certain films that need to be enjoyed as a community on a large screen. Would you enjoy watching Baahubali or Jurassic Park or Avengers on OTT? No. We never thought about doing that, we were willing to wait for cinemas. We have a ray of hope, we know people will come back to watch films. India lives on movies. We take them very seriously as audiences. RRR is one such movie,” Tarak told Deadline.

Jr NTR, who made his television debut with Bigg Boss Telugu season one, will also be hosting Evaru Meelo Koteeswarulu.