Vaishav Tej’s Changing Dreams

Megastar Chiranjeevi's nephew Panjaa Vaishnav Tej is making his debut with Uppena which is slated for a grand release on Feb 12. On the eve of his film release, he revealed his changing dreams.

On his name Panjaa and whether he added to his name out of love for his uncle Pawan Kalyan’s film, he said, "Nothing of that sorts. Panjaa is my sur name".

About starring in films and his passion, he said "I never had plans to star in films. I was very shy in my childhood. Kalyan uncle likes my eyes. He used to say, ‘I will buy you toys. Will you act?’ That’s how I did Johnny. Later Chiranjeevi uncle made me sit on grandfather's chair and asked me to stare without blinking my eyes. Later he asked will you do a film. Thus I did the role of a small kid seen in a chair in Shankar Dada MBBS and later did Andarivadu. But I was not interested in films".

Revealing the secret, he said "I was in dilemma for two to three years as to what to do before Uppena. I thought of becoming an astronaut or scientist. Later I thought of becoming a director. But I came to know the difficulties of the director when I went to the sets of my brother. Later I dreamed of becoming jewelry designer, 3D animator, photographer etc.

Unable to decide I told my mother for which she told, why don't you do films like your brother. I was scared. I went to gym, worked hard, became slim and posted few snaps on social media. I got few film offers. When I told Chiranjeevi uncle, he said ‘when you are getting offers you should respect them. If you can't prove yourself, then you can do something else. Till that time no one told me like Chiranjeevi uncle. I couldn't do the first two films but with the third, I faced camera for Uppena".

 About other stars, he said, "I love action films and those involving guns. I enjoy watching not only our family heroes films but also Mahesh Babu, NTR and Prabhas films. I met NTR in Ram Charan's house first time. From then on he treated me like own brother and used to enquire about my debut film. He once called and asked me to come to his house. I was shocked at the manner he spoke with me.”