Niharika and Varun Tej share about their bond on Raksha Bandhan

They���ve got chock-a-block schedules, but Niharika and Varun Tej can���t imagine spending Raksha Bandhan away from each other. Since Varun is busy shooting in Nizamabad, his
little sister Niharika, has decided to drive down to the film set, to tie him a rakhi. In an exclusive interview with Hyderabad Times, the duo look back at how their bond evolved over the years.
We used to fight like Tom & Jerry...
Niharika: We spent a major part of our childhood fighting and complaining about each other to mom and dad... We used to be like Tom and Jerry ��� Varun was the Tom. He was pretty hefty as a kid and used to just lift me and throw me on the bed. Scratching him with my nails was my only defence. We���d beat each other up so badly, that sometimes, we���d be bleeding!
Varun: It was a riot, really! We bickered and quarrelled a lot. (laughs)
But then, we grew up...
Varun: as we grew up and got a lil��� mature, everything changed. I don���t know when or how it all happened, but today, Niharika is one of my closest friends. I can share anything with her.
Niharika: I remember when it all changed for me. It was when
anna had gone to Vizag to train as an actor. That was the first time he was away from home for so long. Strangely, I realised I missed him. There was this one time I had tears in my eyes when I thought that he wouldn���t come back for a while. That���s when I actually asked my parents to take me to meet him. I don���t think he even knows this story.
Now, we are best friends...
Varun: The same thing happened to me when she went off to shoot for her first film, Oka Manasu. Since I was on a break at that time, I used to be home a lot. And she used to be away shooting all the time. My mother also went along with her. The house was simply not the same without Niha! She keeps talking a lot and the house feels alive when she���s around.
Niharika: Of course, I am used to him being away from home now. But wherever he is, whatever happens, he���ll always be my ���911���.
And so proud of each other...
Varun: Niharika has grown into a strong, independent woman and that makes me very proud. In fact, when the first look of her film released, I was so overwhelmed that I had tears in my eyes. Right from the choice of script to the team she wanted to work with, all the decisions were her own!
Niharika: I am so proud of anna���s body of work. He carved his own niche in the film industry. It���s not easy to earn your own audience, especially when you aren���t sticking to a conventional route. But what���s most amazing about my brother is the kind of person he is. He has the same set of friends today that he had as a kid. That says so much about him. He is like that ��� true and sincere.