Raghu Ram on ‘Keedaa Cola’: Tharun Bhascker is nuts, has an unpredictable sense of humour

Raghu Ram, of ‘MTV Roadies’ fame, discusses his debut Telugu film ‘Keedaa Cola’, a crime comedy directed by Tharun Bhascker, in which he plays a deadly conflict manager. The film that releases on November 3 has an ensemble cast — Brahmanandam, Chaitanya Rao Madidi, Rag Mayur, Vishnu Oi, Ravindra Vijay, Jeevan Kumar and others

Working in director Tharun Bhascker’s Telugu crime comedy Keedaa Cola, which releases on November 3, has been a homecoming for Raghu Ram. The Mumbai-based television producer and actor popularly known for MTV Roadies recalls getting a call, ‘There is a Telugu fi….’. Even before the sentence was completed, Raghu had said yes. Not many are aware of Raghu’s Telugu origin. He has acted in Hindi, Punjabi and, recently, the Tamil film Doctor, but reckons that no one had approached him for a Telugu film. “My father, who passed away two years ago, would have been so happy to see me in a Telugu film,” says Raghu, talking to The Hindu.

He had said yes blindly and was in for a surprise when the script was sent to him in Hindi. “They (Tharun’s team) did not know my Telugu connection.” He read the Hindi translation of the script and found it “hilarious”. He did not know of Tharun or his earlier smash hits, Pelli Choopulu and Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi. “Tharun told me that his friends pooled in funds for this film and I thought they were a bunch of kids, film graduates. I even considered offering a big discount on my fee,” Raghu recalls with a laugh. 

Raghu plays a character called Shots, a conflict manager. “Shots is a deadly guy. You should pray that you never meet him because if you do, your countdown has begun. He is like an attack dog — ferocious, almost rabid.”

In the film that has an ensemble cast — Brahmanandam, Chaitanya Rao Madidi, Rag Mayur, Vishnu Oi, Ravindra Vijay, Jeevan Kumar and others — Raghu is a senior, next only to Brahmanandam. He walked into sets on day one, wearing his don’t-mess-with-me Shots attitude, only to be warmly welcomed by co-stars and unit members who told him how much they liked him in MTV Roadies. “All my plans of showing off the Shots attitude went down the drain,” says Raghu. 

The camaraderie was instant, he says and adds, “Once this film is out and the promotions are done, I won’t have an excuse to hang out with these boys. After my first film (the John Abraham starrer Jhoota Hi Sahi), this is the team with which I have had a personal connection. There was genuine support for each other. I believe that when the process of making a film is enjoyable, it translates into an enjoyable experience for the audience.”

Raghu dubbed his lines in Telugu and says, “I am not proud of the way I speak Telugu but proud of the fact that I can manage, considering that I spent my formative years in Delhi and Mumbai, surrounded by Hindi-speaking friends.”

Raghu’s father was from Machilipatnam and mother from Kakinada. Raghu and his twin Rajiv Lakshman grew up in Delhi and spent their summer vacations in Hyderabad, Guntur, Kakinada and Machilipatnam. Intermittently, he spent his college years in Hyderabad, and later moved to Mumbai for work. He believes he has benefited from the multicultural exposure. At home, they spoke Telugu and he recalls his parents writing, directing and staging Telugu plays and winning the National Award for the play Sandhya Chaaya.