Rakshit Atluri: The ‘outsider’ trying to etch his name in the Telugu film industry

Actor Rakshit Atluri reflects on his rising career in Telugu cinema, from Palasa 1978 to Operation Raavan.

The feelings are clearly mixed for actor Rakshit Atluri, who despite rising to fame with his film Palasa 1978 released in 2020, as he gears up for the release of his new film Operation Raavan on July 26 (Friday). Though Palasa was a critically acclaimed movie that elevated his career arc, Rakshit, who has now found his feet in the Telugu film industry, said that surviving here as an outsider was always tough.  

Hailing from Vijayawada and a non-film background, Rakshit said that though he was always into movies, he never thought he could act in one. Rakshit comes from a family that owns a chain of restaurants in the city known as Sweet Magic.

“As a kid, whenever I went to watch a movie in a theatre, I would come out feeling mesmerised by the movie and the way audience hooted and enjoyed it,” he said, in a telephonic conversation with The Hindu, while recollecting his childhood days when he would go to the single-screen theatres. 

His launch happened in 2016, when a family friend asked if he would be interested to act in movies. Back then, Rakshit, who had just then completed his mechanical engineering from V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College in Vijayawada agreed, though hesitantly at first. However, it did not take him long to realise that acting was his passion.  

After debuting with London Babulu in 2017, which also starred Swathi Reddy in the lead role, he played Mohan Rao in his second movie Palasa 1978, which brought him plaudits from audience as well as critics. “The best compliment that I received was from director Sukumar who told me that he was impressed by how effortlessly I essayed the role of Mohan Rao in four different phases of his life,” said Rakshit, who is busy shuttling between Vijayawada and Hyderabad these days. 

Yet, surviving in the industry is not an easy affair for an outsider according to Rakshit. “Being able to connect with audience and finding a distributor are tough. Moreover, these days we find good content everywhere. Competition has increased too.” 

A bundle of nerves ahead of his new films release, Rakshit is of the opinion that his new film has all elements that appeal to the public. “Operation Raavan, which also stars Raadhika Sarathkumar, is a thriller. We delve into psyche of the person who kills others. I play the role of a journalist and how our paths meet is what the movie is about,” he said.