Brief chat with Sumanth
Sumanth's recent film Mahanandi is going great guns at the box office despite the not so favorable reviews. The collections prove the point here. Here are a few excerpts from the brief chat with Sumanth at Annapoorna Studios.
How are you taking the success of Mahanandi?
I am happy and reasonably satisfied. Mahanandi is the highest budgeted of all my films to date. I am not here to promote the film just because I had to. I looked at the collection reports we got from various areas. Bottom line is I want the buyers to be happy. Buyers can not be happy until there are good collections pouring in. Today, all the buyers are happy and that is what matters to me. Frankly, industry is going through a rough patch. What is needed for the industry the most at this point is crowd-pullers and revenue-generators than some art kind of films.
Satyam is a love story. Following that Gowri and Dhana 51, and now Mahanandi. You seem to be doing more of action oriented films. And even the action part is increasing drastically in these films. In Mahanadi there are 5 fights done by you alone.
In the beginning, I was also skeptical about 5 fights. I don't have much of a perception on the centers (A,B,C) and requirements. Director Samudra said 5 fights will work out good and I went along with him on that. Though I was skeptical, he got me convinced. Now all are happy about it. (Laughs)
For stars, a kind of image is required like romantic hero, mass hero. What kind of image do you see for yourself?
Frankly, I don't think that I have a "particular" image now. And I don't want one. An actor should do all kinds of roles. If you watch closely, there is a good amount of difference in the roles from Gauri and Mahanandi, though both are action films.
What inspired you in this film to take on this project?
When I was first narrated the story, all I heard about is my role and the heroine's character. And a little bit about the supporting role. After giving it a hear, we felt that there is no strong opposition in the film to elevate the hero character. At the same time, if we add some anti-heroic elements to the supporting role it might work out better. We made the necessary changes.
Rumor is that you recommended Srihari for that film.
You said it. It's a rumor (laughs). We thought he is apt for this role. This role needs to have a powerful feeling. But one thing is for sure.. we felt very happy when Srihari said yes for this role. Later on, the writers increased the length of the role. The makers and I felt that he is the right person. Does it mean that I recommended?
How did it feel working with Anushka?
The story line revolves around the heroine character. She did a fabulous job in that role. I saw her in Super. When this story came up on us, we felt she will give the right feel for this role. That is proved true today.
This is the first film for the producers. What did you feel about the planning and related?
Honestly, after we zeroed on the script, I did not bother much. Samudra handled every thing from there on. I mean, I left it to the director. He has good rapport with the producers. Even though this is the their first film, the producer did a good job. I would say reasonably good. Some of the wastage could have been avoided. I feel that the budget might have gone a bit high. But we all are happy today.
Scenes you liked the best in the film?
Many - romantic scenes with the heroine, confrontation scenes with Srihari, warning that I throw at villains etc.
How did the music help the film?
This is one of my best super hit audio. Full credit goes to Kamalakar. I liked his music when I heard the background tune of Pranam film.
There is a lot of gap among your films. Is it intended?
That is my primary concern now. Even my grand father (ANR) is chiding me on the same thing. This is the time to do as many films as we can is his word. I will make sure that from now on there are at least 2 films per year. More over, now a days it is taking lot of time to complete a film. In Bollywood, they seem to be wrapping up film in one and a half month. Here, we are taking even 130 days for some films.
Dubbing films are doing great these days. What is your comment?
That is true. If the films are good, they run well. I saw Aparichitudu and it is a very good film. I saw Ghajini too. It is also good. They are doing some magic with technical values and also the very concepts they are picking also are very good.
Doing such films are risky. Even Ghajini had problems with releasing. If you are given a script like that, would you take that risk?
I did not know they had problem with the release of the film. So they are also not immune to the release problems (laughs). Back to the point, I will definitely do such roles. But the problem is I am not getting any such offers (laughs).
How is Godavari coming along?
It is great. I am enjoying a lot. One thing I should confess is there is absolutely no hard time for me in this film except for the fact that I am away from the home. Sekhar comes to the floor with a bound script that I call Bible. It has two versions of the script - one in English and one in Telugu. Most part of the movie run on a boat. We are now shooting at the locations where my grandfather shot for Anadalaramudu. Nothing has changed from his time to now. Even the boats are the same (laughs). Sekhar knows what he wants. So every thing is going smooth. It will be a typical Sekhar's movie.
You are getting an action hero image and if it is a typical Sekhar's movie, won't it turn the expectations?
As I said before, I don't like to trap myself with image. Sekhar's script is very very good. But you are right with the fact that we got to inject the transition into the fans.
Since Sumanth's Mahanandi has 5 fights, one wonders if Sekhar will go out of his script to add a fight for Sumanth to satiate his fans. Promptly comes reply from Sumanth who confirms Godavari is a Sekhar's film and will not have any thing that the story does not require. Sumanth also assures that music of Godavari will surpass the music of Anand.
| Interviewed by Phani (12th Dec, 2005) |
