Chaitanya’s two films will get on, as he’s found popular actresses Tammana and Kaajal to play his love interest on screen

T-town’s Gen Z stars are facing a unique situation— there aren’t enough young girls to romance. We are talking strictly on screen romance naturally. Although 25 girls made their debut this season, only a handful (Samantha, Priya Anand and Richa) have managed to make an impact on the audience.

I just did a photo session with my new look for a film with Tamil director Selvaraghan and we still haven’t found the right heroine for this Telugu-Tamil bilingual. I am also doing another bilingual film with Gautam Menon and there’s the same problem. We’ve browsed through innumerable portfolios but are yet to find my ideal on screen match. Since I am fairly tall, it has become even more difficult,” says hotshot RaNa, who seems to have explored the option of roping in Mumbai models. “Many models with their piceture-perfect looks and shapely bodies don’t suit Selvaraghavan’s realistically-etched character. So our search continues,” he rues. Supporting his view is his buddy and cousin Naga Chaitanya who also finds the trend ominous. “We need more pretty girls since T-town is short of heroine material. Even directors are reluctant to go through the rigorous selection process of scouting new talent. Often directors find the easy way out for casting established actresses, but even there the choice is limited to a couple of heroines who’d suit us,” he reasons.

However, Chaitanya’s two films will get on, as he’s found popular actresses Tammana and Kaajal to play his love interest on screen. Hottie Ram is geared up to scout for a new girl for his film with director Karunkaran. “Ideally, we would prefer a young actress but if she is unable to spare dates, we would opt for a debutante. For my other film with director Surender Reddy we have signed Genelia,” he informs. While some younger actors have reservations about working with seasoned actresses like Genelia, Trisha and Ileana, box-office fave Ram Charan Tej has no such problems. He’s working with Genelia in Orange and Kajal in Merupu, while his colleague Allu Arjun has roped in Tamanna for his next big-budget flick Badrinath.

On the one hand, ageing top-league actresses and on the other, lack of film institutes to introduce new talent are forcing Gen Z stars to rethink their plans and cut down on films this year rather than risk repeating heroines.