Venkatesh
Winner all the way
My childhood dream to act with the legendary actor NT Rama Rao never materialised. I wanted to stand beside NTR like Kamal Hassan did with Sivaji Ganesan in Thevar Magan. To fulfil the dream, we thought of incorporating his dance movements alongwith me and Simran through special-effects. And it was well-received by the audience. It also created curiosity...

How does it feel to bag the best actor award for the fourth time?
I am definitely happy since it stimulates the actor in me to do better. It also reminds me to work even harder. An wholesome entertainer, Kalisumdam Raa, bagged five awards for other categories including best film and my brother Suresh’s long time dream to make a neat and clean film paid off, both commercially as well as critically. Apart from playing a lover, it also had subtle emotions and caught up with the viewers in a big way.

Would you have been happier if you had bagged it for Seenu as the character was more complex and would you ever attempt an offbeat film again like Seenu since it was a commercial failure?
I did Seenu since it was about a youth suffering from inferiority complex but even the character in Kalisumdam Raa had various shades with scope for performance showcasing a gamut of emotions. Again I don’t consider Seenu an offbeat film. It was different film and also demanded unique marketing. Since we were aware of the target audience, we should have sold it for a specific price instead of selling it as a regular commercial film. I am game for variety scripts but I would definitely insist on making it as commercially as possible since I always believe that films should be entertaining, laced with some novel point.

As a hero, you were the one to begin the trend of family entertainers and love stories. But now suddenly you have done a typical action film Jeyam Manadera. Are you consciously changing tracks?
To take a break from films that brought me stardom, I did family entertainers and love stories to reach the masses and classes. But while doing these films, I felt I was repeating myself and again to break the monotony, I did Jeyam Manadera. I was scouting for a masala film and when director Shankar came up with this story based on a real-life character, I decided to do it. It was specifically tailor-made for the masses and it is drawing frenzy crowds all over the state. While the first half would attract the classes, the second part is for the masses. The collection reports have come as a pleasant surprise because while Kalisumdam Raa collected Rs 30 lakhs in the initial week in a particular area, this film has grossed Rs 50 lakhs at the same place. And it is too early to predict its final outcome. Basically, I would like to do all kinds of films without restricting myself and I may even announce a family-based film soon if I come across a good subject.

When nuclear families are the order of the day, you made a film emphasising on the joint family system. Was it not risky to go against the mood in Kalisumdam Raa?
I do agree that it is the trend of nuclear families and personally I do really feel bad about it. I grew up in a joint family and realised it is nice to stay together. We still cherish the memories of spending time with our family and relatives at our grandfather’s place and my brother Suresh was toying to make a film reflecting these emotions. When director Udayshankar’s story line matched our tastes, it resulted in Kalisumdam Raa. We never ahad doubts about its commercial prospects as we are aware that wholesome entertainers are sure winners most of the times.

Director Shankar claimed that the character in Jeyam Manadera was inspired by Jyotiba Phule? Was even the get-up inspired by the same?
Jyotiba Phule was born in Andhra Pradesh and fought for equality in the society. According to my director, he was considered to be the guru of Dr BR Ambedkar. I thoroughly studied the script and sketched the get-up expressing his simplicity. I consciously didn’t want to pick up any material about him and I don’t even know how he looks. When I showed the get-up to my writers, they conceived good scenes and penned intense dialogues inspired by it. Similarly I worked on my looks in Chanti, Sundarakanda and when director Suresh Krissna saw my sketch for Dharmachakram, he was certain that he had found his character. I do get involved right from the scripting stage for my films and that certainly works for me.

You disowned formula films since they were predictable. But now you have mandatory introduction songs in your films. What kind of formula is this?
These days one can easily predict events in a formula film. Thus I can’t really move away from it and come up with something very different. Though scenes are predictable, we try to present them as differently as possible. A good song at the beginning can make the audience to sit up through the film. I make sure that there is a new backdrop, varied costumes and a hummable number. Similarly we have to work on about eight to ten basic plots of scripts so that the novelty lies in treatment and presentation.

The much-hyped special effects-generated NTR dance in Kalisumdam Raa and the time freeze shot in Jeyam Manadera were not properly registered. Even the lyrics didn’t match NTR’s legendary status. Are you really happy about the outcome?
It has been my childhood dream to act with the legendary actor NT Rama Rao. But it never materialised. I wanted to stand next to NTR like Kamal Hassan did with Sivaji Ganesan in Thevar Magan, with him in his natural beard but it remained a dream. To fulfil it, we thought of incorporating his dance movements alongwith me and Simran. And it was well-received by the audience. Since it was just to create curiosity, we didn’t work seriously on the lyrics. As for the time freeze shot, we were ourselves shocked to see the poor quality due to some technical problem on the day of the release. We couldn’t do much about it since it was too late. But now Suresh has got it removed and has retained the x-ray shot. We would continue attempting new things and the response has been encouraging.

Apart from the phenomenal success in both the versions, what really inspired to remake Nuvvu Vasthavani in Hindi with Karisma Kapoor?
Actually you see, if the idea was just to remake a successful film, I have several films on hand. So let me tell you that I haven’t picked this one only for its massive success. Since there are many stars to play conventional roles in Hindi, I wanted to make my debut with a different character. Earlier my Anari clicked in a big way. Even now whenever I shoot in North India, people call me by the name of my character in Anari. I don’t want to take another chance after the debacle of Taqdeerwala. With Nuvvu Vasthavani, I felt that the soft-spoken person would be a safer bet besides it is a love story with scope for melodious music. You rarely get characters as different as Anari so I thought I could scrape through with this one since it can be packaged as a good film. Our home production, this would probably commence in December after finalising the rest of the cast and technicians.

Deviputrudu is to be the costliest film in your career.
That’s right. I play double roles; that of an archaeologist and a thief. Soundarya is paired opposite me. Producer Raju is not compromising on anything and he is spending lavishly on graphics for spectacular visual effects. The wholesome entertainer can be termed as a good commercial film attracting both masses and classes alike and it will be my next release.

Young director Karunakaran came into limelight with the blockbuster Tholi Prema but followed it up with the disastrous Yuvakudu? Are you still considering doing a film with him?
Karunakaran proved himself as a capable director with Tholi Prema but unfortunately he failed to impress with his next film. I feel we should always judge a director by his talent and not by his success. He is thoroughly working on the project and I am confident that he is bound to come up with a good script.

BVS Prakash