With ‘Aay’ and ‘Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam’, Ankith Koyya secures his place in the sun

Ankith Koyya, a rising Telugu actor and content executive, aims to diversify his roles post recent film successes.

Ankith Koyya has been around for more than five years, quietly trying to infuse life into the characters he portrays. However, the recent Telugu films Aay and Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam made the audience sit up and notice him. The actor, who is also a content executive at Niharika Konidela’s production house, Pink Elephant Pictures, observes, “Earlier, some people spotting me on a train wondered if they have seen me somewhere. Of late, people come up and talk to me or request a selfie. In the film industry, some are aware of my earlier work while others are going back to see the variety of characters I’ve done, beyond comedies.”

At the Pink Elephant office in Hyderabad, Ankith is enjoying the calm before the storm of beginning to shoot for a new film in October. Both Aay and Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam turned out to be endearing films that found patronage among the Telugu audiences. Ankith reckons that he knew intuitively that these films were on the right track. “It was heartening to see the audiences crack up in laughter while watching these films. When my parents enjoyed Aay, it filled me with happiness that is tough to express in words.” 

Directed by K Anji Babu, Aay (now streaming on Netflix) was a comedy drama set in the Godavari belt and Ankith shared considerable screen space with Narne Nithiin and Rajkumar Kasireddy. On vibing with his co-stars and cracking the comic timing, Ankith recalls, “The script reading session helped us a lot. Rajkumar anna and I improvised a few scenes and would laugh even while rehearsing. For instance, we knew that the bridge scene would be appreciated by the audience.” 

While filming Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam, in which he had several scenes with veteran actor Rao Ramesh, Ankith says he was determined to perform well. “If at all something could go wrong, it could be because of me. So I wanted to give my best. Once the camera was on, thankfully I performed naturally and was not intimidated.”

Hailing from Visakhapatnam, the love for cinema brought Ankith to Hyderabad and he began auditioning, landing supporting parts in prominent films — Majili, Shyam Singha Roy, Thimmarusu and Aswathama, and the web series Nine Hours —to name a few. Soon, he learnt that getting selected through auditions involved factors beyond his control. 

Ankith had a support system in his brother who was working in Hyderabad and his parents, government teachers in Visakhapatnam. However, keen to be financially secure, he began working in the writing department of films. “My entry into the world of cinema was through writer-director Teja Marni’s cousin. We spent considerable time writing a feature film that unfortunately did not take off.” However, Ankith went on to act in Marni’s Johaar, which had a direct digital release.

He then worked with a few other teams, including Aswathama, and gave his input for screenwriting. “I was not credited for all of my writing work. Frankly, I was fine if the teams paid me. Some did, while others did not, and I would look for fresh opportunities. Naga Shaurya was kind enough to talk about my contribution in writing the scenes of Aswathama.” Ankith was also featured as a brief character in the film.