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What
are the films you liked watching when you were a kid?
The
first film I watched as a kid was NTR's Pathala Bhairavi.
I saw that film in Tenali when I was six years old. I became an
instant fan of Rama Rao garu with that film. Since, then
I started watching films regularly. I watched almost all the films
that were released at that time. It gradually became a habit for
me to watch all the films irrespective of the artists that starred
in those films.
When
did you get the idea of entering films?
I
did my high school in Tenali and college in Eluru. When I was
a student, I never missed an opportunity to see the artists that
visited the place I was studying at. I was so glad to see Nageswara
Rao garu in person when he came to Tenali on the eve of
100 days celebrations of Devadas and Todi Kodallu.
I took his autograph, when he came to Eluru for the 100 days function
of Illarikam. My college management had also organized
a function to felicitate Nageswara Rao garu for his contribution
to the cine field. That function inspired me and that's when I
decided to enter Telugu film industry as a hero and scale the
heights of mighty stars. After entering the film industry, I think
I have achieved what I wanted to.
Did
anybody encourage you from your childhood days to become a hero?
I
never expressed my desire to become a hero when I was a student.
After completing my education (at the age of 19-20), I met NT
Rama Rao garu and Chakrapani garu for guidance.
They felt that I was looking very tender (noonugu meesalu)
at that age. They told me that it's too early to try as a hero.
Since I came to the industry immediately after completing my education,
they wanted me to gain some experience as an artist by participating
in some stage plays. They advised me to gain some dramatic experience.
I acted in a play (naatakam) titled Chesina Papam Kaasiki
Velluna? along with Sobhan Babu garu in the direction
of Kodali Gopal Rao garu in Madras. After that I acted
in Praja Natya Mandali's play Chairman in the direction
of Dr. Raja Rao.
When
Babu Movies made an announcement that they were looking for new
artists, I sent my photographs. They called for a screen test
and selected me as the hero.
Which
film helped you to get a major fan base in your initial days as
hero?
My
third film Gudachari helped me garner an enormous mass
fan base. It was the first James Bond movie on Indian screen and
it left the audience enthralled. Numerous Krishna Fans Associations
started springing up after the release of Gudachari.
You
have come up with the genres of James Bond and Cowboy films in
Telugu. What inspired you to try different roles like that?
Gudachari
was an ambitious project by Doondy garu. I just followed
the instructions of the director and acted in it. There was no
involvement from my side in terms of story preparation etc. But
coming to cowboy films, I happened to see movies like Mackenna's
Gold and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly at that time
which impressed me very much. Those films inspired me to make
Mosagallaku Mosagadu on my own banner. Also, I wanted to
offer something new to the Telugu audience.
When
did you get an award for the first time?
I
did not get any award so far.
Why
did you not get any award?
I
don't know. The adjudicators should know why I did not get any
awards.
Did
you ever feel sad that you did not get any award so far?
When
Jyoti Chitra was the number one magazine, they conducted
a superstar poll. For five consecutive years I won the 'Superstar'
title. They then stopped conducting the poll, as there was no
point in conducting it every year if only one person was getting
the title each year. That shows the verdict of people. The verdict
of the audience is an invaluable reward and is better than any
award. Sitara magazine also declared me as the best actor for
one year.
How
do you take the criticism on your films?
I
am very sportive when it comes to criticism.
Most
of the artists reach a saturation point at one age and decide
to quit films. You seem to be quite interested in doing more films
even at this age. What do you have to say about this?
I
never came across any saturation point. I want to act in films
as long as I live.
How
are you able to manage such cordial relations with your fans?
From
the beginning of my career, I treated my fans as my own brothers.
And at the same time I am lucky to have such affectionate fans.
Did
you have the habit of celebrating birthdays before you entered
films?
No,
I don't like celebrating my birthdays. But after entering films,
I started celebrating birthdays to satisfy my fans. I don't want
to disappoint my fans. From the beginning of my career, my fans
always visited me wherever I was, on my birthday. When I was living
in Madras, I used to visit Ooty during this time of the year.
And that's how I celebrated most of my birthdays in Ooty. My fans
somehow always manage to gather the information about my whereabouts
to come see me and celebrate my birthday.
Mahesh
Babu made a grand entry into Tollywood with a perfect mass film
Raja Kumarudu. But he could not live up to the expectations
later. Can we expect more mass films from Mahesh?
His
present two films [Okkadu (Bhoomika Chawla, Gunasekhar)
and Bobby (Arti Agarwal, Sobhan Babu)] are very good films.
Both these films will exceed the expectations of audience.
How
did you feel after watching Takkari Donga?
Mahesh
took a lot of risk in that film for executing those amazing fight
sequences. Whatever the film paid off commercially is solely because
of Mahesh Babu's presence. He is the only asset of Takkari
Donga.
Mahesh
Babu has shown tremendous maturity in histrionics in just four
films. How do you feel about it as a father and a senior artist?
He
definitely has improved a lot with just four films. He is more
matured than what I expected. Mahesh Babu is the only hero who
got such a rousing reception for his debut film from the audience.
What
are your future projects?
I
would be directing a Hindi film under Padmalaya banner
soon.
Is
it a remake of Manasanta Nuvve?
No.
Somebody else has already copied the storyline of Manasanta
Nuvve. I would be directing some other film.
Do
you have any words for the visitors of idlebrain.com?
I
visited USA a couple of years back. Whichever city I went to in
the US, I found that 80% of Telugu people out there were my fans.
I even met some people who had the videocassettes of 300 films
out of the 320 films I acted in. I was so happy and proud after
meeting them. I would like to convey my best wishes to them and
to all my other fans through idlebrain.com.
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