How do you feel about box office performance of Ala Modalaindi?
It has exceeded my expectations. A film like Ala Modalaindi has no reference film at Telugu box office. It reflects my personal taste and was unsure about how people would receive it. Lot of industry people and bigwigs wrote it off by watching previews of the film. The only people who loved it before the release were my childhood friends. Everybody thought that Ala Modalaindi was a multiplex film for A centers. But I observed a 70-year-old lady watching Ala Modalaindi on 50th day. It is us who draw parameters and fence our movie, but not the movie lovers. I followed my heart while making the movie and left the destiny to film lovers. It worked.
What is the reason for picking up Siddharth for your second film instead of Nani?
We have decided to give space to each other after Ala Modalaindi.
Tell us about the genesis of Jabardasth?
I met Bellamkonda Suresh in March 2011 and agreed to do a film for him. Samantha was signed first. Siddharth liked the subject and joined in. We had dates problem with Samantha for 4 months. I started writing another script for my 3rd film and narrated it to Samantha in the meantime. Samantha liked it so much and asked me to narrate it to Siddharth. Bellamkonda Suresh has also agreed. And we changed the script and made Jabardasth.
How different are Siddharth and Samantha as actors?
Siddharth is very good at improvising the comedy scenes. He keeps on adding and improvising till the last minute. He has the knack of coming up with new stuff when the camera is rolling. Samanth is more like a serious actress. I need to push Samantha to reach the gauge of Siddharth. Once they are on the same gauge, things were magical. Both of them share the same sense of humor at personal level.
I heard that you have changed scenes when Sayaji Shinde had leg injury?
Yes. We were shooting a chase scene on Siddharth, Nitya Menen and Sayaji Shinde at GVK mall. I was informed that Sayaji Shinde couldn’t make it as his leg was injured. I asked him to attend, provided a wheel-chair for him and shot the chase. I changed the scenes prior to chase in such a way that he is injured in the story. I didn’t want to waste working days and budget. I have told you in my earlier interview that things go wrong every day while shooting a film and we should manage it. That’s the reason why this film is shot in 64 working days which is minimal for a film of this stature.
4 cinematographers worked for Jabardasth
Mahesh Muthuswamy and Sanjay Loknath shared the burden of cinematography for the major part of the movie. Both of them have immense knowledge about cinematography. Another cinematographer Andrew did the climax of the film. Shyam K Naidu shot Ninnila song. Though four cinematographers have worked for this film, you will not find any difference in texture of film.
Movie is releasing in a few hours. Can you reveal the story point?
My films don’t have any stories. They are screenplay based movies. Jabardasth is the journey of a character called Byrraju that is played by Siddharth. I threw some obstacles and emotional moments to Byrraju and shown how he overcame them. Jabardasth is my take and my understanding of a perfect masala film. It’s collage of all things I like in Masala cinemas. I grew up watching films of Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and NTR. Jabardasth is my tribute to masala films.
You debut film Ala Modalaindi has screenplay and narrative that is similar to that of Harry Met Sally (Hum Tum in Hindi). Are there any inspirations/patterns for Jabardasth film too?
I keep telling a joke on myself. I am not a creative director. I am a re-creating director. I am unoriginal when it comes to films. You can find inspirations and traces of Hollywood and Bollywood films in all the films I make.
I think we lack story writers in Telugu film industry. There is no current Telugu literature to cling on to. People like Yandamuri and Malladi stopped writing in 90’s. Among the current crop of film directors, I give complete credit to Krish as a story writer. Krish is a genuine filmmaker and I am a Tamasha filmmaker.
Admitting that you are unoriginal need a lot of guts and genuineness
I stay grounded. I have no pretentions that I am going to make a great film. As a director, my job is to entertain audiences for two and half hours. I don’t take hits/flops seriously. The friends I move around are my childhood friends. I am a non-filmy person. I have very limited friends from film industry (Nitya Menon, Rohini, Jagapati Babu, Kalyani Malik and Ramya Krishna to name a few). I feel that films reflect filmmakers to the large extent.
You have a very good working style that puts the unit members into a comfort zone. How do you manage that?
I feel that people are more important than films. Films come and go. But it’s the people who make difference to your life. If my actor/technician is happy, then my work will be performed very efficiently. If an actor wanted to go by 5 pm, I make sure that he leaves the shooting spot by 5 pm. We can’t extract right work by making them unwillingly participate. That’s the reason why all actors and technicians care for me as I make sure that they are comfortable. Dharmavarapu Subramanyam cooperated very well though he was little unwell. Telangana Sakuntala participated in a run chase with Siddharth despite having a heart surgery recently. At the end of the day, a film will get converted into a DVD. People matter to me a lot. Film is a perishable commodity. It is the people who contribute emotions, feelings and energy to your life and to your film. I feel that journey of making a film is more important that delivering the film itself.
What is your next movie?
My next movie will be produced by Paruchuri Prasad (Simha and Shadow fame). I have a story idea. I need to develop it into full-fledged script and then go for casting.
Other
Interviews
• Prabhas (actor)
• Koratala Siva (director)
• Mahesh Babu (actor)
• Bommarillu Bhaskar (director)
• Sharwanand (actor)
• Kajal Agarwal (actress)
• Samantha (actress)
• Gowtam Menon (director)
• Rana Daggubati (actor)
• Krish (director)
• Praveen Sattaru (director)
• Sundeep Kishan (actor)
• Vishnu Manchu (actor)
• Ravi Babu (director)
• Sekhar Kammula (director)
• Amala Akkineni (actress)
• Ajay Bhuyan (director)
• Nagarjuna (actor)
• Allu Arjun (actor)
• Trivikram (director)
• Jr. SVR (actor)
• Kranthi Madhav (actor)
• Lakshmi Manchu (producer)
• Life is beautiful actors: Abhijeet | Sudhakar Komakula | Naveen | Vijay Devarakonda | Kaushik | Zara | Sriram
• Sai Korrapati (producer)
• Harish Shankar (director)
• Sravanthi Ravi Kishore (producer)
• SKN (producer)
• Teja (director)
• Sampath Nandi (director)
• Manoj Manchu (actor)
• Kiran Meegada (director)
• Amala Paul (actress)
• Siddharth (actor)
• YVS Chowdary (producer)
• Nagarjuna (actor)
• Sesh Adivi (actor)
• Prasad V Potluri (poducer)
• Krishna Vamsi (director)
• Seenu Vytla (director)
• Rana (actor)
• Dil Raju (producer)
• KL Damodar Prasad (producer)
• Veerabhadram (director)
• Varun Sandesh (actor)
• Sai Kumar (actor)
• Praveen Sattaru (director)
• Vishnu (actor)
• Dil Raju (producer)
• N Shankar (director)
• Nandini Reddy (director)
• Ravi Babu (director)
• Kalyan Ram (actor)
• Bharat Thankur (producer)
• Saloni (actress)
• SS Rajamouli (director)
• Madhura Sreedhar (director)
• Sundeep Kishan (actor)
• Satya Tatineni (director)
• Nani (actor)
• Lakshmi Manchu (producer)
• Manoj Manchu (actor)
• Aditya Babu (actor)
• Chandra Siddhartha (director)
• Ram (actor)
• Deva Katta (director)
• Ruby Parihar (actress)
• Anita Galler (actress)
• Priya Anand (actress)
• Shruti (actress)
• Arun Singaraju (director)
• Naga Chaitanya (actor)
• Suman Pathuri (director)
• Sekhar Kammula (director)
• Richa Gangopadhyay (Actress)
• Seenu Vytla (Director)
• Krishna Vamsi (Director)
• Srikanth (Actor)
• Sravanthi Ravi Kishore (Producer)
• Ram (Actor)
• Chaitanya Dantuluri (Actor)
• Chakri Toleti (Director)
• Nara Rohith (Actor)
• Senthil Kumar (Cinematographer)
• Ram Gopal Varma (Director)
• Anand Ranga (Director)
• Marthand K Shankar (Director)
• Siddharth (Actor)
• Raj Pippalla (Director)
• Nani (Actor)
• Deva Katta (Director)
• Raj & DK (Directors)
• Surya (Actor)
• Shraddha Das (Actress)
• Mahesh Shankar (Music director)
• Lakshmi Manchu (Actress)
• Siddharth (Actor)
• Sushant (Actor)
• Sharwanand (Actor)
• Jagapati Babu (Actor)
• JD Chakri (Director)
• Tamanna (Actress)
• Kishore Kumar (Director)
• Rahjul Nambiar (Visual Effects Supervisor)
• Deepa Chander (Cosumes designer)
• Anushka (Actress)
• Hari Charan Prasad (Director)
• Colors Swati (Actress)
• P Ravi Shankar (Dubbing artist)
• Anushka (Actress)
• Sonia (Actress)
• Usha (singer)
• Anish Kuruvilla (Director)
• Gowtam Menon (Director)
• Genelia (Actress)
• Kamal Kamaraju (Actor)
• Kishore (Actor)
• Harsha Reddy (Director n producer)
• Bindu Madhavi (Actress)
• Shweta Basu Prasad (Actress)
• Dil Raju (Actor)
• Santhi Chandra (Actor)
• Teja (Director n producer)
• Jeevi (Critic)
• Lakshmikanth Chenna (Director)
• Manoj Manchu (Actor)
• Ajay Sastri (Director)
• Sekhar Kmmula (Producer)
• Ravi Krishna (Actor)
• Sunitha (Playback singer)
• VN Aditya (Diector & Producer)
• Nallamalupu Bujji (Producer)
• Uday Kiran (Actor)
• Chandra Sekhar (Actor)
• Raahul (Actor)
• Dil Raju (Producer)
• Gopichand (Actor)
• Siva (Souryam director)
• Venkatesh (Actor)
• Mamata Mohandas (Actress)
• Lakshmi Lahari (Actress)
• Ramesh Varma (Director)
• Samudra (Director)
• Yogesh (Director)
• Neha Thota (Child actress)
• Srinivas Avasarala (Actor)
• Uday Kiran (Actor)
• Kanmani (Director)
• Ram Gopal Varma (Director)
• PG Vinda (Cinematographer)
• Madan (Director)
• Bhavana (Heroine)
• Bhargava (Producer)
• Hari Yelleti (Director)
• Krishnudu (Actor)
• Kishore Ganji (Producer)
• Ram Mohan (Producer)
• Salim Panda (Actor)
• Surekha Vani (Actress)
• Manjari Fadniz (Actress)
• Vishal (Actor)
• A Raja Sekhar (Director)
• Sridevi (Actress)
• Sayaji Shinde (Actor)
• Viswa Tej (Actor)
• Geetha Madhuri (Playback Singer)
• Namitha (Actress)
• Sneha Ullal (Actress)
• Prem Kumar Patra (Producer)
• GV Prakash (Music director)
• Mohana Krishna Indraganti (Director)
• Bharat (Child actor)
• Malini Dasari (Cinematographer)
• Rama Jogaiah Sastry (Lyricist)
• Venkat (Hero)
• Uday Kiran (Hero)
• Sharwanand (Hero)
• Ram (Hero)
• Aditi Sharma (Heroine)
• Nagur Babu (Mano) (Singer)
• Sekhar Suri (Director)
• Sindhu Menon (Heroine)
• Vinu Thomas (Music director)
• Nihal (Music director & Singer)
• Nitin (Hero)
• Smita (Pop singer)
• Sonal Chauhan (Actress)
• Raghu Kunche (Singer)
• Udaya Bhanu (Anchor)
• Meher Ramesh (Director)
• Rao Ramesh (Actor)
• Gopi Mohan (Writer)
• Ajay Sastri (Director)
• Vara Mullapudi (Director)
• Bhumika Chawla (Actress)
• Jagapati Babu (Actor)
• Vijay C Kumar (Cinematographer)
• Sekhar Kammula (Director)
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