MAN OF THE MOMENT: Teja Sajja

Pragmatic, grounded, and realistic. These few words would be apt to describe Teja Sajja, the young star who emerged as a dark horse in the first wave of releases in 2024 with his breakthrough hit, Hanuman. Teja Sajja, the star of the year's first blockbuster, speaks exclusively to Hashtag magazine about his movie, his stint as a child actor, and why he feels he is in for a long innings with Mallik Thatipalli.

- Mallik Thatipalli

The 29-year-old star of the super-successful movie is basking in the glow of his film, breaking records across India and proving that content is the only king when it comes to winning the audience's heart. For its young lead, though, this was an affirmation of his struggle over the past eight years when he returned to the arc lights to make his mark as a lead star after a stellar career as a child artist.

Reacting to the success of Hanuman, he says, “I am extremely relieved, as I have lived with the movie and the associated pressure for almost two years. The success still has to soak in, and I sometimes feel blank when I look at the reviews or hear the numbers. Also, while I was confident that a superhero with Indian roots would be well-received, the extent of its success has taken us by surprise.”

A SUCCESS STORY

The toast of the country, the movie was spawned off a single premise the actor had—why couldn’t a superhero wear a Kurta pajama instead of spandex? —and the result was this movie, which combined action, mythology, and storytelling in one template.

"We had limited resources when we started the movie. When Prashanth narrated the script, which combined stories from Indian mythology via a superhero, I was hooked on it,” he recalls and adds, “The initial reports were positive. We sold the movie to different territories, from Burma to Berlin and Nepal. We invested the money into the movie, as we had full faith in the story.”