"There was a continuous language problem. I do understand a bit of Telugu, but I find it difficult to learn and speak the dialogues in Telugu. The tele-prompters on the sets were no doubt a great help. My prompter was like a god to me," Manoj, who had earlier starred in another Telugu film "Happy", told.
"Komarum Puli" also stars popular actor Pawan Kalyan and is being directed by S.J. Suryah.
Manoj says he accepted the offer because the director is a good friend.
"It's not that I really wanted to do a regional film, but the director is a good friend of mine and he pulled me into the project. It is quite a commercial film and it is almost complete now," he said.
Nowadays, Manoj is busy promoting his Hindi movie "Jugaad", releasing Feb 6.
"I hope the film is successful. It is based on the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) sealing drive in Delhi. I play a good husband in the film and it is about how my character handles the difficult situation which arises after his business collapses due to the sealing. The film also has a comic twist to it and I hope the audiences like it," he said.
The actor also has other Hindi films in the pipeline including Prakash Jha's "Rajniti" and Sanjay Gupta's "Acid Factory" and "Blade". Manoj hopes to present himself differently through each project.
Manoj won accolades for his performance in offbeat films like "Satya", "Pinjar", "Shool" and "Zubeidaa".
When asked about his distinct preference for offbeat movies to commercial ones, Manoj said: "This categorical distinction is just made by the media. I don't understand what is offbeat and what is commercial. I just do the kind of films I like."