South superstar Chiranjeevi (right) and Race Gurram male lead Allu Arjun at the film’s mahurat

Taking on challenges comes easily to this son of the soil, be it stunts on 70mm or dance shows on the telly. Ravi Kissen, this time has taken the plunge in a Telugu film, without knowing the language.

The actor has already finished shooting a portion of the movie in Hyderabad. Busy shooting in Panchavati, Maharashtra, for his upcoming film Bullet Raja starring Saif Ali Khan, Kissen told The Telegraph over phone: “I know Bhojpuri, Bengali, English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. However, Telugu is an alien language for me. This is the first time I would be acting in a south Indian film. It will be tough for me to learn the language.”

He added: “As the language is completely new to me, I am taking special classes. I have just finished a seven-day shoot in Hyderabad for the film and I have been taking classes for almost three months now. The director of the film, Surendra Reddy, asked me to learn the language to do justice to the character.”

The actor has, however, acted in three other languages — Bhojpuri, Hindi and Marathi. For the first time in his career, Kissen would be mouthing Telugu lines for Race Gurram, directed by Surendra Reddy.

Kissen has worked in the Marathi film, Madhyam Varg directed by Harry Fernandes. It was first time that he acted in a language other than Hindi or Bhojpuri.

On learning a new language, Kissen said: “It is always good to learn a new language. It helps one understand the culture and tradition of that particular state. I believe you can win someone’s heart by speaking in the language which is comfortable for him/her.” He added: “Speaking in a different film has a great feeling. More importantly, it broadens one’s chance of acting in south Indian films.” He accepted that it is a difficult language for him to learn and his co-star Shruti Haasan would help him deliver a few dialogues. The film is being jointly produced by Nallamalapu Srinivas and K. Venkateswara Rao. Vakkantham Vamsi has written the script.

On his role in the film, the actor said: “I am playing the role of an anti-hero named Shiva Reddy. It is a very interesting character in which I start my journey from scratch and end up becoming the chief minister of the state.”

Telugu actor Allu Arjun and Kamal Haasan’s daughter, Shruti, play the movie’s lead roles.

Talking about the lead pair, Kissen said: “Arjun is a big star in Telugu films. As far as Shruti is concerned, I have already worked with her in Luck. She is a very talented artiste. The entire cast of the film had a great time during the shooting of Luck in Cape Town. It was a 10-day shoot but we bonded really well. I am privileged to get an opportunity to work with Shruti again. I am a great fan and admirer of her father.”

The film is all set to release in October. “Thirty per cent of the shooting has been completed and the movie is likely to be released on Dussehra. I hope people appreciate my work in the Telugu film as they have been doing for my Bollywood and Bhojpuri films,” said Kissen.