I was being typecast; was waiting for the right project: Mahat Raghavendra

Mahat Raghavendra has been consciously waiting it out for meaty roles. In a conversation with us, he speaks about the re-release of Mankatha , his upcoming projects, undergoing a physical transformation, and continuing to share a close bond with his Double XL (his Bollywood debut) co-stars Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi and Zaheer Iqbal.‘THE ONLY PERSON WHO EXPERIMENTED WITH ME WAS VENKAT PRABHU’I’ve not been signing many Tamil movies because nothing exciting was coming up. I didn’t want to do a project for the sake of doing it. I was waiting for the right moment because I want to stay here for a long time. I want to pick projects which will help me grow. The scripts that I was getting were mostly romcoms and I was being typecast as a chocolate boy. The only person who experimented with me was Venkat Prabhu in Mankatha and Chennai 600028 II.On Mankatha’s re-release...“It was one of the best experiences I’ve had in recent times. It was a great feeling to be back in theatres to watch the FDFS with fans. To get to relive my first and Ajith sir’s 50th movie was beautiful. He is so humble and always the same. Even recently, when Venkat Prabhu went to Dubai and met Ajith sir on the track, he asked, ‘How are all the boys doing? Send my love and wishes to them,’” says Mahat.‘RAMYA MA’AM AND AISHWARYAA ARE KICKASS PERFORMERS’Right now, I’m doing a Tamil film with a reputed production house in which I play the role of a funny boy next door. It’ll be different from the roles I’ve done to date. The film will deal with something every common man can relate to. Kadhale Kadhale is a romcom for the Gen Z audience, which also stars Meenakshi Govindarajan. Premnath, who worked as a co-director with KV Anand sir, has directed the film. I’m also doing a fun Tamil-Telugu bilingual that’s about a rift between the mother-in-law (Ramya Krishnan) and daughter-in-law (Aishwarya Rajesh), and I play the son who is stuck in between. Ramya ma’am and Aishu (a very close friend of his) are kickass performers. It’s my first time working with Aishu, and I can say that she’s one of the finest performers in the industry.‘WHENEVER I FIND TIME, I HANG OUT WITH SONAKSHI, HUMA AND ZAHEER’Working in Double XL (2022) was a gamechanger. The working style was completely different in Bollywood. I had workshops with Sonakshi, Huma and Zaheer. All of us became close friends. We keep chatting every now and then and even play Ludo together. We even have a group for it! Whenever I find time, I go to Mumbai just to hang out with them. My wife and I were present at Sonakshi and Zaheer’s wedding.‘YOU’LL GET A CONFIDENCE BOOST WHEN YOU WORK OUT EVERY DAY’I underwent a complete physical transformation. Your brain functions differently when you work out every day, and you’ll get a confidence boost. When you don’t work out, stay lazy and eat a lot, I feel you’ll not be able to mentally function properly. To be fit, your lifestyle has to change, and you should opt for a clean diet.