Vijay Deverakonda: 'When The Film Industry Works, The Whole Economy Flourishes'

“Life has taught me many things. The most important one was to never lose hope or be scared,” says Vijay Deverakonda. The 33-year-old Telugu star is in the midst of a whirlwind round of promotions for 'Liger', which releases in a day’s time. Directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by Dharma Productions, 'Liger' sees Deverakonda share screen space with Ananya Panday and Ramya Krishnan.

The star is speaking about his resilience because of the #BoycottLigerMovie campaign that’s picked up steam on social media as his film’s release nears. He’s unafraid, he says, simply because he’s struggled so much in the past to get to his present position. “I saw the struggle for money and respect, then I had to struggle for finding my space in this world. When my first film was released, I had no producer so we randomly raised money and did acting for free. The film did well and people started showing love,” says Deverakonda , who made his debut in 2011 with the Ravi Babu-directed Nuvvila, reports OTT Play.

“When Arjun Reddy was released, there was a section that opposed the film, but it became a superhit,” he continues. “Then came the time when a few of my films got leaked days before the release and there was a certain group on social media who started [talking about] how bad these films are and that I would fail as an actor. But again, when the films were released, I received so much appreciation,” he told this correspondent.

With so many hard knocks on the way to success, Deverakonda says he’s ready for any challenge. “I am ready to fight because I have worked on this picture with full honesty and I think that truthfulness will reap benefits,” he avers. As filmmaker Nag Ashwin once advised him, Deverakonda believes that work is worship, and as long as you do it wholeheartedly, the universe will take care of other things. He wasn’t scared when he had nothing, so why would he start now, he asks. “I have my mother’s blessings, the love of my fans, god is with me, and there is a fire inside me,” Deverakonda says, enumerating all the reasons he feels unstoppable, reports OTT Play.

It’s a great time to be an actor and make films for the country, according to Deverakonda. Even with the “boycott” hashtags and the Bollywood versus rest of Indian movie business narrative? “I have performed every function in the film industry so I know how important it is for a film to get business at the box office,” he explains. “When the film industry works, the whole economy flourishes and that’s something I celebrate. I think we all should enjoy each other’s success because, at the end of the day, we all are from the same country, chasing big dreams. Someone doesn’t need to fail for us to succeed: we can all succeed together.”