Directors drop scripts, steal spotlight with Mirai roles

Like a cricketer suddenly walking in as a bowler, a few directors stepped into acting in Mirai and caught everyone off guard. Kishore Tirumala, usually known for gentle dramas, appeared as a police officer with a hint of comedy. Many in the audience didn’t even realise it was him at first. His performance wasn’t flawless, but it carried a different shade, and that made people notice. What surprised most was not the role itself, but the fact that a director who never faced the camera before dared to try it here.

And another director, Venkatesh Maha, also popped up in the film. Unlike Kishore, Maha has done small parts in films and series before, so the shift didn’t feel out of place. Their screen time was short, but both brought a personal stamp that kept the audience guessing.

The idea of directors jumping in front of the camera isn’t new. Dasari Narayana Rao turned the same urge into a full-fledged acting career decades ago. No one is putting Kishore or Maha in that league yet, but the desire is the same, to test themselves on the other side. Fans even felt Karthik Ghattamaneni, the man juggling both direction and cinematography here, could have tried a cameo. But handling two heavy jobs left no time for that experiment.

In the end, Mirai is buzzing for more than its story. These small, unexpected appearances gave extra flavour and talking points. They weren’t game-changers, but they reminded audiences that cinema is about play as much as craft. When a director decides to swap the chair for the arc light, it doesn’t always matter how polished the act is. The fun lies in the surprise, and Mirai delivered just that.