Tilak is troublemaker in Nanna Ninna Prema Kathe

In his next release,

Nanna Ninna Prema Kathe

,

Kannada

actor

Tilak

plays lead actress Nidhi Subbaiah's brother, which at first may seem like a supporting role. Tilak, though, says that's not the case. 'Frankly, it doesn't matter to me whether I am playing the hero, antagonist or a supporting character, as long as my role has an impact. When audiences walk out of the theatre, they should remember and love my character and with Nanna Ninna Prema Kathe, I will get just that. In fact, when director Shivu Jamkhandi gave me a narration, I felt that my character was one of the main leads,' says the actor.
In the film, Tilak plays Shivaji Gowda Patil, a wealthy zamindar, whose sister Nidhi falls in love with someone from the lower middle class. 'Obviously, he is not happy with her choice of lover and he becomes the antagonist in their love story and what happens thereafter forms the crux of the story. Every love story has to have some trouble, and here I am, the troublemaker,' laughs Tilak.
One of the USPs of the film, according to Tilak, is that it is set in

North Karnataka

, and therefore has the appropriate the language and the look. 'Every actor dreams of doing a variety of roles, and playing Shivaji gave me that opportunity. I got to challenge myself by acting while speaking a different dialect and using slang I hadn't used before. That was exciting,' he says.
Tilak adds, 'Shivu, with whom I have worked earlier on Just Akasmika, had the look for my character in his mind before he approached me for the role, so that made my job easy,' he says.
Shooting in North Karnataka also ensured that the cast spent a good 35-40 days in the region, which, Tilak says, was quite an experience, despite the harsh weather in peak summer. 'We shot at a lot of locations that had historical value. Normally, we don't shoot in places like Gulbarga, Jamkhandi and Bijapur Fort, among others, because of the heat or because the scripts don't demand that. But here we were shooting an entire film there. The crowds that gathered to see us were also very enthusiastic. Unlike Bengaluru, where people gather, take selfies with the actors and leave, people there would come to the location much before we would arrive and spend the whole day there. That is an experience I will never forget,' says Tilak.