Caught in the web: Sreerama Chandra to make an OTT debut with Papam Pasivadu on Aha

Singer Sreerama Chandra plays Kranthi in Aha's web series Papam Pasivadu, Sreerama makes his OTT debut with this series, and his association with Aha began in 2022 as an anchor. He has made the transition from singer to actor well, and is looking forward to an exciting career in playback singing.

Single, confused and in a marital crisis. That describes singer Sreerama Chandra Mynampati’s role as Kranthi in Papam Pasivadu, a web series on Aha. Sreerama Chandra is excited as he is playing a character he can relate to. “Kranthi is a little confused about which girl to pick in his life and what is the right thing to do. Whenever he’s in a crisis, he is confused between ‘yes’ and ‘no’, which is almost my real life story,” he says with a laugh.

While he played a romantic role in Prema Geema Jaanta Nahin opposite Barbie Handa in 2014, this OTT debut has him playing a confused but sophisticated urban youngster. Produced by The Weekend Show and directed by Lalith Kumar, the five-episode web series takes a hilarious turn when three women, played by Gayatri Chaganti, Raashi Singh, and Srividya Maharshi are smitten by Kranthi.

The Indian Idol Season 5 (Hindi, 2010) winner’s association with Aha began as an anchor for the streaming platform’s Telugu Indian Idol Season One in 2022. He made a mark as a performer with impressive short skits in every episode. The team approached him with the story; he did a few workshops in July 2022 and built the character with the help of the director.

The shooting began in September 2022 and was wrapped up in a month, followed by post-production work. With music by Jose Jimmy, the title rap track Okati kadu rendu kadu teen nahi chaar mama sung by Aditya Rao Gangasani, was released in CMR Institute of Technology recently.

He has made the transition from singer to actor well. Cinema is an emotion for a South Indian, especially for those from the Telugu states, he says. “I lived in Bombay for ten years but I hail from here. I am a local boy born in Visakhapatnam, but I was raised in Secunderabad; Rag rag mein Hyderabad aur Secunderabad ka pyar daudta hai. (The love of Hyderabad and Secunderabad runs in every vein) Thanks to the masala films he watched since childhood, his love for movies and movie stars inspired him to see himself on the screen. “Cinema lovers of the Telugu states are attached to films and film stars. I grew up the same way. ” His approach towards singing, anchoring and acting now is to work hard before getting on to the stage.

Though his singing career has been rising steadily in Bollywood, he is unhappy about not singing much in Telugu. In the movie Baby however, he got a breakthrough with ‘O Rendu Prema Meghalila’where he had a one-minute role in the song. Baby’s director Sai Rajesh had loved ‘Gelupu Thalapule,’ a track he sang for Pawan Kalyan a decade ago in Teen Maar and had approached him.

Calling it his comeback song in Telugu, he shares that ‘O Rendu Prema Meghalila’ starts with a kids’ chorus and has a unique sound. It was challenging, says Sreeram, as he had to make an impact on screen in just a minute. “The lyrics and composition by Anantha Sriram and Vijay Bulganin were beautiful. I tried my best and I am glad people loved it.”