A Telugu actor playing the role of a Tamil superhero in a Hindi-Tamil-Telugu film directed by a Bengali filmmaker?

Yes, that’s right. Evergreen T-town actor and a veteran of 200-odd Tollywood movies Rajendra Prasad has become the first Telugu star to do a film produced by a Hollywood studio. “It took me 32 years to do this,” says the actor humbly. Interestingly, Prasad who became a house-hold-name in Andhra Pradesh for his realistic roles, plays a reel superhero for the first time.

“We loved watching American superheroes (Spiderman and Batman) on screen, now it’s the turn of our desi superhero to woo the west,” he says with a smiles

In Quick Gun Murugan Prasad plays the role of “well-designed caricature” with lots of comic one-liners and this is one role which the actor says is “closest” to his real-self. Hasn’t he done realistic roles before? “I have done countless roles that are close to my real-life, but this one is special. Legends like NTR and ANR are remembered even today because of the characters they essayed on screen,” he says.

Prasad who’s dabbled in different genres of films like horror (Kashmoro), action (Erra Mandaram and Aa Naluguru) et al, has won two state awards and has an honorary doctorate from Andhra University.

“The audiences relieve their stress by watching my films,” asserts the actor who destresses with meditation and yoga. "I thrive on positive energy with a disciplined lifestyle,” says Prasad.

He’s deeply indebted to his wife’s “support” in bringing up his children, and making his life such a breeze. “I feel that if you have to achieve something professionally you have to make some personal sacrifices,” he reasons.

The engineering graduate turned actor now has competition brewing in his backyard as his son Baalu is turning actor very soon. “Of course, I inspired him to be one,” he says. A true-blue family man, Prasad wants to continue charming his audiences for the next few years and “do challening roles,” he says on a parting note.