Jagapati Babu

Out to prove his versatility
Jagapati Babu, the young actor, was stuck with the image of a lovable husband because of blockbusters like Subalagnam and Maavichiguru. In his recent hit Sardukupodam Randi, he has again played a husband who slips into an affair and later comes back to his wife retaining intact his popularity among family audiences. Sometime ago, he tried to shrug off this image by doing an actioner Samudram in which he played the character of a wronged youth and its success revived his action image of Ghayam. Surprisingly, he is again being sought for family subjects instead of other types of films. He is extremely disappointed as the much-hyped Manoharam failed to make an impact at the box-office. “It gave me job satisfaction,” says Babu proudly for being associated with a patriotic film. After the failure of Bachi, a semi-action film, he indicated that he would like to do this year more of family dramas like Budget Padmanabam and Family Circus in order to regain his lost ground. To be on the safer side he rejected slam-bang action films including the remake of a massive hit. He is also planning to have atleast five releases every year. A chat with the actor who is forthright in his views, at the muhurath of his latest film Family Circus....

You even pumped iron in the action flick Samudram and despite its success you are again doing mostly family dramas? Is it not an attempt to shrugg off the action image?
It was just another film for me and not any serious attempt to go in for a change of image since I had already attained the action image long back with Ram Gopal Varma’s Ghayam. I did work hard on my physique to fit into the character in Samudram and I took it up as another opportunity to prove my versatality and nothing more than that. After doing similar roles at a stretch, an actor tends to look for other kinds of roles. I put in some efforts because I didn’t want it to look ‘mechanical’.

You had a smashing success in the family drama Sardukupodam Randi. Why are your releases not properly spaced out?
Director SV Krishna Reddy was responsible for giving me the family man image with Subalagnam. The two of us had many hits including Maavichiguru. Sarku was about a husband who gets into an affair but later comes back to his wife. Our next film Budget Padmanabhan is about a miser and this family entertainer is nearing completion. Our plans go awry due to poor planning and sometimes due to unforeseen situations. I lost more than six months for Manoharam for both the reasons. It happened again with Budget Padmanabam. In future, I would set right these minor things since I want atleast our or five releases every year.

Do you regret doing the much-hyped patriotic film Manoharam in which the character you enact had loopholes?
There are films whose commercial success gives you happiness but there are also some films from which you get complete job satisfaction and Manoharam belongs to the latter category. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it since it was a nice blend of action and family drama laced with patriotism. It was one of the films which also gave creative satisfaction. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well as we expected. Irrespective of its commercial ratings, it is one of the ‘best’ films among the 50-odd films I have done. As for the character I enact, the judge doesn’t give him a chance to prove his innocence and pronounces judgement on the basis of the charges trumped up by the prosecution. I don’t feel there was any serious inconsistency in characterisation.

Has Bachi given you similar job satisfaction despite being a flop. Have you experienced ‘wild’ swings in your career since a massive hit is followed by a disaster?
In no way these two films can be compared because Bachi was a typical commercial film to entertain the viewers while Mahoharam had a lot of depth. Though I played a tough police commando, the intention was to evoke laughter than tackling any serious issues. I have to take both hits and flops in my stride instead of probing for reasons behind the failure. In simple terms, something ‘clicks’ with the audiences in a hit, while audiences dislike something in a flop.

If you go on doing family dramas like Budget Padmanabam and Family Circus, will directors with other concepts approach you?
Why not? I have received offers for action films including a slam-bang action film, a remake of a super-hit film in another language but I consciously rejected them to have a couple of hits in my familiar terrain—family dramas.
Every actor is identified with a particular kind of film and I am marked for family dramas starting with Subalagnam. This year I would like to have a couple of hits to consolidate my position and try my hand in other ‘genres’ from next year onwards.

You have stuck to your decision not to talk about your films under production. Do you have any second thoughts about this after two years?
I have decided to talk as less as possible about my films while under production since I receive an interesting feedback from my fans and well-wishers. If I give an interview it would have to have substance and readability since I am talking only to few selected press persons who come up with an interesting questionnaire.

I took that decision which you have mentioned because you can’t fool the audience by claiming to work in a different film while under production since you will loose your credibility once the film fails to live up to those tall claims.
If you talk rarely, people will believe your words and I did have some problems while expressing ‘truth’. I accepted that my film was a flop in the second week itself and distributors who were planning to release it had some problems. I would rather keep mum about trade-related facts but I would be frank in other things as in the past.

Are you still taking time to accept a film and are you averse to work with new directors?
I have made it clear that I would be working with producers and directors with whom I am comfortable with since the maker and the actor should have perfect tuning. I take time to convey my decision about a subject ‘diplomatically’ since I don’t want to reject it on their face but they assume that I have delayed it but the relity is that the subject has not impresed me. I have approved most of the films including Family Circus in just a few minutes, just by hearing the outline. My priority has always been ‘subjects’ and the success ratio of 35 hits out of more than 50 films vindicates by stand. I have worked with one-film wonders like Jaganath and Teja but I would think twice to work with a raw newcomer since big money is involved. But I don’t completely rule out working with debutants if they really come up with ‘fresh’ concepts.

BVS Prakash