Like many aspiring actors, he too dreamt of that perfect role since childhood. Tejus Kancherla would sometimes want to become a doctor or a policeman when he grew up, but he finally decided on onscreen brilliance and took up acting as a profession so he could enact all the other professions he aspired for. Tejus’ impressive debut in the recent successful trilingual film by Prakash Rai, Oggarane in Kannada has paved the way for more meaty roles. He recently bagged two more films in Tollywood, with one in Kollywood yet to be finalised.
 
The budding actor, who is eager to work in interesting projects says, “Since childhood, my ambition was to act but whenever I watched a character playing the role of a doctor or a policeman, I would tell my dad that I wanted to study medicine or law enforcement. He would ask me to focus on one thing so I decided to take up movies seriously.” A polo player till recently, he quit the sport after he fell and injured himself quite badly, Tejus took up professional classes in Mumbai at Creating Characters and later worked as an assistant director in Tollywood for a year till the trilingual project happened. “While I was working as an assistant director with Teja Sir, I came to know about this ambitious project through my father’s friend, a film producer. I promptly went with my profile and met Prakash Sir. He saw my profile and spoke to me for 15 minutes. Then, he told me that I was the actor for his film, may be in just the Telugu version. I was shocked and thrilled that I would be working in such a big film. I went home and informed my mother. While it was yet to sink in, he called and declared that I would be a part of all the three language films,” he explains.

While it was a challenge for him to meet expectations, he says, “Most people have the mistaken notion that Prakash Sir is very short tempered. It was my experience that made me see how serious he is about work. That apart, he is a great person and fun to spend time with. I  call him ‘dad,’ as he is very caring and supportive. Working with big stars like him, Sneha maam, Urvashi and Mandya Ramesh was also a tremendous experience,” he adds.
 
His experience as an assistant director helped him understand the art of film making and how one can effectively communicate with actors as there are always egos running high on the sets.
Tejus, who hails from Hyderabad, has signed two Tollywood films. For one, he starts shooting this month-end and the other one shortly after, with a few changes in the script. He is also closing in on a Tollywood project, and this has him excited.
 
“Though my first film gave me good recognition, I do not like to stick to a particular image as it characterises you in a certain avatar, which makes it difficult to do different roles. I wish to reach a larger audience with real elements. “These are still my early days, and I hope things work out and even if nothing positive turns up, I will stick to acting no matter what — I might even take up negative and other challenging roles,” says Tejus.
 
A huge soccer lover, Tejus says he always finds time to play a match or two against college teams with his friends. “I was into polo but I fell and injured myself, luckily it was not too serious. With the kind of industry I have chosen, I have become extra cautious,” he explains.
 
Tejus has his cartload of female fans and he works hard to keep himself fit by hitting the gym regularly. “I gym to keep fit though not for any six pack. But if my character demands it, may be in future I might work on it,” Tejus signs off. We are sure his female fans will look forward to that.