Dino Morea heads down south

Dino Morea

Tandav and The Empire changed the game for Dino Morea. The web series, which saw him as the villain, came as a refreshing change after a slew of chocolate-boy roles in forgettable movies. Now, the actor is enjoying building on the bad boy image. He will be seen as the antagonist pitted against Malayalam superstar Mammootty, and Akhil Akkineni in Agent, which releases today. The spy action thriller, helmed by Surender Reddy, marks Morea's debut in Telugu cinema. The actor does not view it as a big shift. "If the story is convincing, why not be a part of it? Even if the film is made in a different part of India, it is as mainstream as our Hindi movies," he says, before quipping, "The Hindi film industry is buying rights to Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. I'm directly working with the source."

Working with Mammootty has been an honour for the actor. "I loved the challenge of being at the top of my game when doing a scene with Mammootty sir. When someone like him says you did a good job, that means the world to you." But learning Telugu for the film wasn't a cakewalk. "Initially, I started with learning only my lines. Eventually, I got a hang of it."

Also Read: Ahead of the release of his upcoming movie 'Agent', Akhil Akkineni thanks 'brother' Ram Charan, here's why!