out of thousand indian boys who were auditioned telugu boy roni akurati made the cut to bag the lead role in the recently released crosscultural comedy growing up smith looking at the headlines describing the film roni seems to have made big impression sample a few lake zurichs roni akurati a charmer in comedy says chicago daily herald roni akurati steals the show in growing up smith reads another the film has got an imdb rating of 85 and was time magazines pick for movie of the week in the first week of february and roni is pleased as punch this was my first feature film and im glad i got the chance to act with great actors like jason lee hillary burton and anjum nigam to be selected out of 1000 indian boys who had auditioned for the role is a matter of great pride but if i have to make a name for myself ive got to push on and keep improving shares roni who is pursuing his ninth grade in lake zurich illinoisthe 100minute film narrates the story of smith bhatnagar a 10yearold indian boy growing up in america in 1979 while his family tries to straddle the fine line between embracing the american dream and preserving their indian heritage smith tries to integrate himself with the kids at school he falls in love with the girlnextdoor amy much to the chagrin of his over bearing sanskari dad and there ensues a tussle of resolve between father and son although roni had acted in theatre productions and a couple of tv shows he admits he needed to be coached on a few nuances of acting since it was a film set in the late 1970s anjum nigam who plays my father in the film was a huge source of advice and helped me be very natural in front of the camera says ronihe told about how things were in the 1970s the mannerisms the style of talking and general culture says roni who has also acted with hollywood icon ben stiller on three episodes of a sitcom called another period on comedy central last year a native of tadepalligudem roni is a self confessed allu arjun fan and has his heart set on telugu cinema i would love to do tollywood films if im given a chance i love allu arjun and the way he dances says roni even as his mother rajani akurati a native of vijayawada echoes when he was very young he used to look at tollywood actors and dance at home we immediately recognised the talent that he had and sent him for acting classesand roni seems to be dealing with his new found stardom pretty well im as normal as ever with my friends of course i now have to sign quite a few autographs for girls and guys but im just the same and my friends appreciate me for that says roni when asked how he is dealing with the