Years ago, Surya Rao played a tree in a drama at his school in Class 1. There was hardly any acting after that. Years passed by and he started working with an insurance broking firm in Mumbai when life took a sudden turn. He started getting roles in Telugu films. Now, Friday, February 11 is a special day for this 35-year-old actor as the day will see the release of his first Hindi movie- ‘Eight Down Toofan Mail’, in Nagpur. “This is a dream come true--to bring my film to my home town. From a tree in a play to this film, I have come a long way. I sincerely want Nagpur to watch it,” said Surya Rao in a telephonic conversation with ‘The Hitavada’ on the eve of his film’s release. Surya’s family was also very happy that his movie will be screened at PVR Empress Mall in Nagpur.

 

The movie is a fictional story based on a true event. In the early 1970s, a woman landed at New Delhi railway station claiming to be the last heir of the Nawab of Awadh. She asked to meet the Prime Minister and stayed in the first class waiting room for 10 years before she got a run down palace in Delhi called Malcha Mahal. Years later, following a report in ‘New York Times’, questions were raised if she was a queen or an imposter. The film has been written and directed by Akriti Singh. Surya Rao plays an important role of Gurpreet, the station master, in the film. “The character of Gurpreet is very interesting. In the film, we have condensed all the political happenings, Emergency, railway strike etc. We showed it all from her perspective. Gurpreet keeps interacting with the woman. I am sure that the viewers will find the story and the characters very interesting,” he said. Surya Rao, Akriti Singh and others share a strong theatre group bonding. As he recalled, during the shooting everyone was doing two or three jobs on the set. When he himself was not shooting Surya looked after the lighting. Surya’s father Koteshwar Rao is a farmer.

 

His father and mother Koganti Dhana stay in Mouda in Nagpur district. His younger brother Karthik is a software engineer in the US. Surya was born and raised in Nagpur. He did his schooling from St Joseph Convent, Kamptee and graduation from Dharampeth Science College, Nagpur. Later, he did MBA in Risk Management from Osmania University. While working for insurance broking firms in Mumbai, he did theatre workshops in the evening including the one by Barry John at Barry John Acting Studio, and also by Neeraj Kabi, Theatre Professionals, Mahesh Dattani, Adishakti among others. Initially, Surya Rao got small parts. He took up acting as full-time profession in 2007. Gradually, he caught attention of big-shots in the industry. He did 20 Telugu movies. In ‘Anukshanam’, directed by Ram Gopal Verma, he played a challenging role. ‘Eight Down Toofan Mail’ is his first Hindi release.

 

The award-winning movie is made with passion The one-and-a-half hour film has already bagged several awards including the Best Film Award (Youth Curated Choice) at the UK Asian Film Festival. It was selected in the Indian Panorama section of 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held at Goa, organised by Government of India. The film has been a part of a lot of International film festivals, and has won a lot of popular awards like Audience Choice Award at Indic Film Festival, USA. Already, it has created quite a buzz for quality and selection of subject, despite being a low-budget film. But, as the director Akriti Singh, who also portrays the lead role of the woman who claimed to be last heir of the Nawab of Awadh, said that ‘Eight Down Toofan Mail’ is ‘not a film made with money but with passion’.