The recently-released Master, starring Chiranjeevi, is poised to break all box-office records in Andhra Pradesh, adding yet another feather to director Suresh Krissna’s cap.

Krissna is known as the superstar's director, thanks to a string of mega hits with superstars like Rajnikant (Annamalai, Veera and Baasha), Kamal Haasan (Satya and Indrudu Chandrudu), and Venkatesh (Dharmachakram) ...

You directed Chiranjeevi for the first time in Master.
How did you plan this successful film?
I had directed Telugu films like Prema, Vasundhara and Amma and more recently Dharmachakram with Venkatesh. With Chiranjeevi, I had to make him relate to today’s youth. The fans who grew up watching him are today middle aged and it was essential to target youngsters. I chose a subject which would appeal to the youth and women. So I cast him as a college teacher who mingles with the students, fights for them and dances with them. The basic idea, as I said, was to woo the youth without tampering with the star’s image. The gambit paid off at the box-office.

Did you face the same problem of generation gap while directing Rajnikant?
No. The long gap between his releases takes care of that. It creates a demand for his films. He is constantly in the news, both in the print media and on TV without him having to plan his publicity. So the young audience and kids are always with him.

What are the advantages and disadvantages that you face while directing superstars?
With Rajnikant you have to be very careful because if the film fails, you will be stoned by the public. His superstar image is too powerful. His fans will take you to task for the film’s failure, and thank God I have been lucky so far. One advantage is, because of his charisma, you can take a lot of cinematic liberties. Like in Baasha, when Rajni gets beaten up by Anandraj, there is thunder and lightning, and the audience lapped it up.

Baasha was the ultimate in heroics and I could get away with it only with a superstar like Rajni. The most difficult task is finding a story that would live up to the audience’s expectations. Do you know why Rajni does only one film in two years? Because of the lack of a proper script. I am sure Amitabh Bachchan and Chiranjeevi have that problem too. It took more than a year to find a script for Chiranjeevi that would measure upto his image and the expectations of the public. In Hitler he played brother to seven girls. Master was passed by the censors without a single cut. It’s bringing in the women audience.

The dialogues in films like Rajnikant’s Annamalai and Baasha were a big hit with the audience. They are being repeated in jingles and speeches. How did they originate?
In a Rajnikant film, a lot of improvisation takes place. Like, in Baasha, when he whips out his middle finger while delivering the punch line, Oru datave sona..., there is a whizzing sound. It was suggested by the editor and we incorporated it. And it worked.

You did not pull it off with Mohan Lal in the Malayalam film Prince?
Mohan Lal is a superstar in Kerala but not for his heroics or the other attributes associated with a Tamil or Telugu superstar. Maybe it was an error of judgement on my part. Even the producer did not find anything wrong with the gimmicks. But the people didn’t appreciate them. Rajni liked the film very much. Lal’s change of voice also seemed to backfire. People thought someone else had dubbed for him. After a throat surgery, his voice had undergone a change. Eventually, he had to issue a statement that it was his own voice. It was like what had happened to Amitabh Bachchan in Agneepath.

Why did you experiment with new faces in Aaha
when you could have got any star to work for you?
R Mohan of Shogun Films told me that he would either make a film with Rajnikant or Kamal Haasan or invest big money on a strong story. So he went for a `small' film with a strong storyline. But no distributor came forward to back it. Mohan was then going through a rough patch in his business, and some 22 crores of rupees of his had been blocked in various projects. And I was shooting with 15-20 senior artistes and hundreds of junior artistes, but he did not say a word. When we showed the film to the distributors, the response was overwhelming. They told Mohan to release it during Diwali, and it worked. The fact that a simple family tale had been shot with all its richness made it appealing. Bhanupriya deserves a special mention for her acting. In one shot, she had to express shock and pain because of a heart problem and happiness at the sight of her husband who was supposed to be dead. She did it so brilliantly that when she packed up and got into the car, she found a bouquet from all of us congratulating her on the great job she’d done.

The success of Aaha must be more satisfying to you than
that of the big starcast films you had directed?
Actually yes. Because in Aaha, the director’s work gets noticed. But a megastar film takes you to even the remotest corner of the state. After Master, I have become quite popular in AP. At the same time, in a big starcast film, the hero comes first and the director second. In Aaha, I have followed my guru K Balachander’s school of filmmaking. I have come to my roots after ten years and 20 films.

Technically, your films are not rated very high.
In the climax of Aaha, at least ten characters keep walking in and out of the frame and the entire sequence was shot in one take. It was very tough on the cameraman, but we did it. Frankly, I believe that technique should not dominate a film because it distracts the audience. It cuts into the mood of the film.

Apparently, you have approached Rajnikant with a new script?
It never happens that way. When he has something in mind he calls and we talk it over. My next film is in Telugu with Nagarjuna where he plays an auto driver.

What is your ultimate ambition as a director?
To direct Big B. I keep repeating the Sholay dialogues to my wife. Recently Big B saw Baasha, inspired by Hum and told Rajnikant that he should have done it the way we had done it in Tamil. I have directed two films in Hindi, Jagruti and Love. Some day maybe Bachchan may invite me to do a film with him.