Jagapathi Babu as bad guy in Balayya film

Actor Jagapathi Babu, who has more than 100 films to his credit as a lead actor, will be slugging it out with superstar Balakrishna for Boyapati Srinu's ambitious, yet-untitled venture, which is currently progressing at Hyderabad.

The actor, who has carved a niche for himself among the family audience, has been roped into play a role which has grey shades. 'I will be presented as a stylish villain on the lines of Italian characters and will be seen in three generation getup's.

I have footage on par with Balayya. The director has given me certain references and I would be changing my body language according to the character demands,' says Jagapathi Babu who is supremely confident about the character.

One who calls spade a spade, the actors says he has been waiting in the wings to don such characters. 'I was looking for character roles as I'm aware that youngsters have now taken centre stage in Tollywood. Of late I have resorted to films for money. I shouldn't have done them.

Moreover, I have no offers as the lead hero. I was not even alert of how my last few films fared at the box-office. This role is like a re-birth to me,' he opines and smiles, 'Most of the villains turned into heroes whereas, after essaying hero roles, I'm turning into a villain.'

On how the character has landed in his laps, he says that producer Anil Sunkara happened to see some of his old pictures before zeroing him. 'As soon as Sunkara got hold of my portfolio which I did for designer Ram, everything was sorted out in three days', he says and continues, 'I was always open to experiments.

My roles in 'Anthapuram' and 'Anukokunda Oka Raju' exemplify it. Boyapati has earned the reputation of designing strong negative characters and my role will be a notch above. Technicians like writer Ratnam and composer Devi Sri Prasad working for the film indicate how big it will be.'

While the actor will be getting a leading lady, who will be featuring as his wife in the flick, he is attentive that his female fans would be slightly disturbed to see him in such an outing.

'They would be disappointed but I need to take care of myself. I'm a family hero and I would still continue to star in such films in the future,' he assures.

On his equation with Balakrishna, he shares, 'We are good friends though we were never in constant touch. I like his straight forwardness and he is a very co-operative.'

In the transformation to essay the antagonist, he will join the sets of the film from August 21. 14 Reels Entertainment and Vaarahi Chalana Chitram are jointly producing the action-drama artist.