I don't have regrets: Actor Keerthy Suresh breaks silence on Baby John's failure

Keerthy Suresh does not regret making Baby John, despite the disappointing performance of her Bollywood debut opposite actor Varun Dhawan. In an exclusive conversation with India Today, the 34-year-old described the film as a positive experience that led her to another project.She revealed that actor Rajkummar Rao decided to cast her in Raftaar after watching Baby John. She also drew a parallel with her Tamil film Thodari, which faced criticism but helped her secure the lead role in Mahanati.Speaking about the film's reception, Keerthy said, “Honestly, every film that we do, we want it to do well. It's never like we go into a film thinking we don't want it to work. You always have a positive attitude towards it. Some films do great, some do really well, while others don't turn out the way you expect. Baby John was one such film.”Although the film did not perform as expected, Keerthy said she had a good time working on it. The familiar faces and the use of Tamil on set made the experience particularly comfortable for her. She said, “Working on Baby John was a lovely experience for me. Atlee and Priya, who produced the film, are very good friends of mine. It was one of the most comfortable sets I've ever been on. The DOP was Kiran, and I knew director Kalees briefly. Everyone on set spoke Tamil. For a while, I actually felt like Varun (Dhawan) was doing a Tamil film. It almost felt like his Tamil debut!”How Baby John led to RaftaarKeerthy explained that she does not look back at unsuccessful films with regret. Baby John, she said, played a part in her landing Raftaar with Rajkummar Rao. “In general, I don't have regrets, whether it's in life or my work. I believe that even the smallest mistakes are where you learn from, and Baby John was one such experience. I wouldn't call Baby John a regret or a mistake. I did that film, and the next project I was doing was Raftaar. When I was speaking to Raj (Rajkummar Rao) during our script readings, he told me he had been thinking about whom to cast. Then he watched Baby John and called me directly. So, what got me Raftaar was actually Baby John,” she shared.From Thodari to MahanatiKeerthy recalled a similar experience after Thodari, the Tamil film in which she starred alongside Dhanush. She faced severe trolling and criticism for the film, but it eventually helped her secure Mahanati, one of the most important projects of her career.“I have a similar story from before Mahanati. I had done a Tamil film with Dhanush sir (Thodari), and that was the first time I was trolled very badly. Even today, I don't like going back and watching that film. I faced a lot of trolling and criticism, but I never responded to any of it,” she said.She continued, “The next film that came my way was Mahanati. I remember initially not wanting to do it because I was very scared. I kept wondering how I would be able to portray someone as legendary as Savitri amma on screen. But Nagi (Nag Ashwin), the director, trusted me.”A few months after filming began, Keerthy asked Nag Ashwin why he had chosen her to play Savitri. His answer took her back to Thodari, the film that had attracted so much criticism.“A few months after we started shooting, I asked him, 'Why did you cast me? What did you see in me?' He told me that he had watched the film I did with Dhanush sir, the one that had flopped and bombed. There's a song in that film where I'm dancing on a moving train. He said, 'There's a particular close-up of you in that song. When I saw your eyes, I could see Savitri amma in them.'”Drawing a parallel between Thodari and Baby John, Keerthy said the two experiences strengthened her belief that a film's performance does not necessarily determine what follows.“I remember sharing this at the Mahanati press meet as well. The film that had flopped was the reason I got Mahanati. That's why I personally don't believe in having regrets. You never know what one film or one experience might lead to. Anything can lead you to something else, and I'm just happy about that,” she concluded.Baby John is a 2024 action thriller about a former police officer who fakes his death to protect his daughter from a dangerous politician. Directed by Kalees, the film also starred Wamiqa Gabbi and Jackie Shroff in key roles.- Ends