Sreenu Vaitla is on cloud nine. Well he has all the reasons to be. He has been a successful director from the beginning. Nee Kosam, Anandam, Sontam, Venky, Andarivadu, Dhee, Dubai Srinu and recently Ready. Almost all his films are good hits at the boxoffice barring one or two. What puts him on the top chair now is that his recent three films Dhee, Dubai Srinu and Ready are super hits. He completed an hatrick super hits with Ready. Here is a chit chat with Srinu Vaitla who is presently directing Nagarjuna for a film titled King.
Congratulations. Ready is declared super hit in the trade circles. How are you enjoying the success
I am very very happy that I could reach the expectations of the audience. Now I have to be all the more careful because I have to continue meeting the raising expectations for every film.
Expectations on you raised considerably after Dhee
That is true. In fact, I was a little concerned about that when I was working on Dubai Srinu. Fact is that when we started the film, we have nothing in the script except the title. Raviteja is a good friend and he is the one who forced this film. He just stopped by and said: Srinu we are doing a film together and that starts tomorrow. First half went on smoothly. But we didn’t know what to do in the second half. We struggled to complete the second half. But the movie became super hit and stood as one of the biggest openers for Raviteja to that date. Honestly, some where deep down I feel that I did not reach the full expectations of the audience in that film. I feel that the film would have come out much better if I had little more time to work on the script. With that in mind, I made sure that there are no loopholes and gaps anywhere in Ready script. I went with complete planning and script for the film. So there is lot of positive energy and confidence from the day one in the entire unit that it will be a good hit. But the range is huge. It is breaking the records set by Bommarillu.
Your themes are always the hero rescuing the heroine. What is your comment?
Hmmm.. I believe in narration than the story. You will not find new theme for every film. But if you can present the story in a different perspective and a new narration style, it will entertain the audience. And more over, guy saving a girl will have universal appeal.
Do you agree with the comment that Ready resembles a bit of DDLJ
No. In fact, when I saw the film, I recalled Mayabazar. In that film too, the family of the hero does whatever it takes to get him close to his lover. What is the point in going there (to Bollywood) when you find streaks of our old films in those films.
Now you are branded that all your films are family entertainers. What kind of films do you prefer to do?
As a director, I would like to make films that would entertain the audience through out. When I entered the industry, I had good amount of influence of RGV and Mani Ratnam on me. I wanted to make serious or action films. Recently, I saw the Gangster film and immediately thought I should make one film like that. It is my friends Gopi Mohan and Kona Venkat who bring me on to the right track saying these are the films you need to make and not like Gangster.
What is the special relation you share with Brahmanandam
(laughs).. Ya.. These days even I hear that if it is a Srinu Vaitla’s film, people would want to know what Brahmanandam did in this film. So far all Brahmanandam episodes came to me like a flash and all of them clicked very well.
Compared to previous films, there is less comedy on Brahmanandam in Ready
If you watch it closely, Brahmanandam did a key role in Ready compared to my previous roles. Almost, the entire second half involves him. And you might have felt that comedy is little less on Brahmanandam because there are lot of characters in the second half. And all the characters are etched out well. So you might have felt that way.
Tell us about King
All I can say at this point is that this film will be a good entertainer too. One schedule is completed. Next schedule starts from 14th July. Nagarjuna will be seen in a different image that he was never seen in before. There will be a mark comedy touch. We are planning to wrap up the shooting by November and release the film on 18th December.
King? What kind of king? Dialog King, Action King or Collection King?
At present only Ta’king’ and Ma’king’.
When you do films with top heroes, do you see them involving a lot in the direction department?
It never happened to me. I always had the freedom to do whatever I wanted, for any of my films. For King, we narrated the script about 6 months ago and we went to the floors only when every one is satisfied with the script. In fact, I should thank Nagarjuna because he waited 6 months after completing Don for this film. Once you are okay with the story, no one will fiddle with the direction department.
What is your next film after King?
It will be with Venkatesh. Gopi Mohan is giving the story for the film. I cannot reveal any more details about that film.
Thank you for your time and we will you all the best for your kind and your upcoming movies.
Thank you very much.
