In a recent interview, Ram Pothineni said that he once used to have a title that some other hero adopted, forcing him to drop it altogether. Later, he came to be known as the 'Energetic Star', which sorta suited his on-screen persona. For more than a decade, this was his title. Then came the title 'Ustaad'. From Andhra King Taluka, he will once again call himself the 'Energetic Star', dropping 'Ustaad'.
It's strange that Ram went all the way back to about two decades to mention a tag that someone else started using. The amount of importance our actors attach to their titles is almost strange. It's possible that the first thing their coterie talks about after they deliver one box-office hit is which title they should go with.
It's not just about Ram. Almost no Telugu actor with a hit or two to his credit is not guilty of this exaggerated yet pointless interest in titles. Some of the titles in recent times, such as Global Star, Nava Dhalapathy and Mass Ka Dass, have been rejected outright by the movie-going public.
