When it comes to ageing Indian superstars, the unwritten rule has always been to cast a heroine half their age. This has been the norm since time immemorial. From NT Ramarao, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, and Kamal Haasan to Rajinikanth, they have always preferred a younger heroine to play their love interest. Recently, Nani was called out for portraying Krithi Shetty as his love interest in ‘Shyam Singha Roy.’ Netizens were irked that Nani did intimate scenes with Shetty, who might have been 16 or 17 during the making of the film. That’s why Vijay Sethupathi’s decision not to play Krithi’s hero in his next film is surprising to many.
In an interview with a Telugu channel, the actor revealed that since she played his daughter in ‘Uppenna,’ it was difficult to romance her in his next film. ‘Uppenna’ was a commercial hit that also won the National award for the best Telugu film.
Interestingly, there were plans to cast them as a romantic pair in many Tamil films, but Sethupathi declined the offer. “In 'Uppenna,' I played Krithi’s father. After the success of the film, I did sign a Tamil film. And the crew felt Krithi would be suitable to play my heroine. But when I saw Krithi’s photo, I told them that I played her father in a recent Telugu film and that it wasn’t possible to romance her on screen now. So I requested them to replace her. During the climax portion of 'Uppenna,' I remember encouraging Krithi when she didn’t get a scene right by reassuring her to think of me as her father and act. She did exactly that and got the scene right. I can’t even visualize her as my heroine,” said Sethupathi.
