My uncles gave me three rules: Take care of your producer, satisfy your director and entertain the audiences: Sai Dharam Tej

Seven years after his foray, Sai Dharam Tej seems to be finally finding his footing in T'town. So what, you ask? He afterall comes from the 'Mega' family, right? But for the actor, the journey has been no cakewalk.

"Having that 'Mega' family tag is great, but it did take a lot of resilience from my end. I had to discover myself before I could expect people to accept me. I learnt it the hard way," he shares.

His first film, Rey took four years to release. "The most important thing that phase taught me was to be patient. People think that once you get a film offer, that's it, you have arrived! But I learnt that it's not the case," he says. Having delivered a hat-trick of hits with Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam, Subramanyam for Sale and Supreme , the actor has carved a niche for himself. "It has been quite a journey. And most importantly, today when I look back, I don't have anything to regret. The last seven years have been a rollercoaster ride. But I am glad I stayed put and didn't lose myself at any point," he says.

The actor, who is slowly becoming a name that producers can count on, had a plan in place to get where he is today — stick to the commercial formula. "It was a conscious choice to start off like this because I first wanted to be considered a bankable actor. My uncles gave me three important rules: Take care of your producer, satisfy your director and entertain the audiences. And I abide by them."

Dharam Tej has not only inherited these industry mantras, but also the looks of his uncles Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. But the similarities do not end there. His style of acting too has traces of Chiru and PK. Is it a conscious effort to look and act like them?

"I have actually heard this a lot of times. But no, I have never consciously tried to imitate them or adopt their style. I just think having been around them for so long, there are some mannerisms which I may have unknowingly picked up. It wasn't like I said to myself, 'Ok, ippudu pedda mavayya laga cheyali'. No, that's not the case. Of course they are my inspiration, but there was no plan to literally be another version of them or something," he asserts.

Now having pocketed several projects, Dharam Tej is raring to experiment. "The plan is to now balance out my films, to alternate between the commercial genre and the experimental. For instance, both Thikka and my film with BVS Ravi are going to be in the experimental zone while my film with Gopichand Malineni is a complete commercial entertainer," says the busy actor. In fact, he says having some free time scares him. "A free day just makes me wonder why no one is calling me to check my schedule!"

Of course, we couldn't leave without addressing the big elephant in the room — his rumoured affair with Regina Cassandra. Breaking his silence on the issue for the first time, he tells us, "It's very distasteful for people to speculate about relationships. I wasn't really affected by all the hearsays. But I did feel very bad for Regina. There's already so much that these girls have to fight out in the industry and such rumours make it harder for them. People need to be sensitive and respectful."
The actor is also worried about losing a friend to pointless gossip. "But I think we are going to tide through this and save our friendship from the nasty affereffects of such gossip," he says on a parting note.