By Radhika Bhirani
New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) Southern star Siddharth, who plans to turn producer next year, says he is the "Shah Rukh Khan" of the Telugu film industry and that romance will always be his forte even though he is popular for his intense roles in Hindi movies like "Rang De Basanti".
"I do a lot of romantic roles in Telugu films. In fact when people say you are the Aamir Khan of Telugu films, I say I am the Shah Rukh Khan of the film industry. I do all the 'Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam' type of sequences in Telugu," Siddharth told IANS in an interview.
"I do romantic movies as my mainstay and when I want to change my mood, I do a 'Striker' or a 'Rang De Basanti'. Now that I have done a serious film like 'Striker', I need to go back to my strengths and do a romantic film," said Siddharth, who has done Telugu films like "Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana" and "Bommarillu".
At the same time, the actor, who played the intense Karan Singhania in "Rang De Basanti" and a Mumbai-based carrom player in crime thriller "Striker", stressed that doing romantic roles is not a cakewalk.
"I find romantic films, which are on a lighter vein in Telugu, as challenging as serious dramatic films in Hindi - both are equally tough. The important thing is that you have to find a nice script and I think 'Striker' was one of the nicest scripts I have read in my career because I found it a very realistic film.
"My next Hindi film would be a more light-hearted one. I wanted to do a light-hearted one for now because when you do a serious role, you need to come out of it. I want to give as much time as I can to Hindi," he said.
Siddharth made his debut in Bollywood with "Rang De Basanti" in 2006. He took a four-year break before his second release "Striker" but now plans to do more Hindi films.
"At this time, I am shooting for two Telugu films simultaneously so that I can have a year to do Hindi films," said the 30-year-old.
The actor is currently busy with a Rs.300 million fantasy adventure film in Telugu and a village comedy.
He also has his plans set for launching his own production house in 2011.
"I am starting my own production next year. India is becoming a great country to make small, independent films that are content driven, just like 'Striker'. These films need to be made because these big studio films with the routine 'naach gaana' (song and dance) and foreign locations will always be made because they are fun. But it's important to make realistic cinema as well.
"I want to get into production very soon. We are going to make an announcement in a couple of months. We have got our funding," he said.