Mahesh Babu, who recently tasted yet another success with ‘Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’, is currently busy shooting for his untitled movie under Sukumar’s direction. According to him this movie will be released in June. The actor is currently shooting for the film at Ramanaidu Cine Village in Nanakramguda, Hyderabad. At this juncture, he took some time out at the shooting location on Sunday to speak to the media about the success of SVSC, his present & future projects and his concern for Kamal Haasan’s dream project ‘Vishwaroopam’. Here are some excerpts:
Speaking about Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’s success he said, “SVSC is a sensible film. I had to forget everything thatI learned in my
past films to do SVSC. To do the role of Chinnodu, I had to first remove the thought from my mind that I’m a big star and behave like a normal guy. For that I literally surrendered myself to Srikanth. Although I felt little bit complicated to speak the Godavari accent initially, within 4 to 5 days of the film shoot began, I was able to speak comfortably as it’s the director’s accent. That’s exactly how Srikanth speaks. SVSC is the reflection of Srikanth’s life experiences. I don’t want the movie to be called as multi-starrer because the audience will find only the characters in the film and not the stars - be it Peddodu, Chinnodu, Sita, mother, father or grand mother. The main reason for the film’s success is that all of us have surrendered ourselves to Srikanth. He might be a one film old, but his command style of bringing all artists under his control has amazed me.
About Dil Raju he opined, “Dil Raju is a much planned producer. He has thorough knowledge on cinema. Hence he can judge the scripts rightly. He also involves completely in all 24 crafts. That’s the main reason for his success.”
About his working experience with Venkatesh he said, “I felt comfortable working with Venkatesh garu right from day one of shooting. He ensured that our chemistry off the screen is as good as on-screen. So he would visit the sets a day before and spend whole day on the sets even though his part of shooting was not there on that day.”
When asked about heroines he commented, “Since we maintained good rapport from ‘Dookudu’, our chemistry worked well in this film too. Initially, I had no idea about Anjali even though Dil Raju told me that he selected her for the role of Sita after watching her performance in ‘Journey’. But I was amazed to see her performance on the sets. She is very spontaneous and gave brilliant performance. Similarly, Jayasudha garu, Prakash Raj garu and Rohini Hattangadi garu needs no introduction. They are all very senior and experienced actors.
About his current project: “This movie, under Sukumar’s direction is being made by 14 Reels Entertainment banner. It’s an action flick with interesting screenplay but different from Sukumar’s earlier films. My character in this film is also different and quite appealing. We have not yet decided the title. The movie will be released in June.”
About his upcoming projects: “I’ve my forthcoming projects with Srinu Vaitla, Krish, Vamsi Paidipally, Puri Jagannadh and Rajamouli. But my immediate film will be ‘Aagadu’ with Srinu Vaitla which will start next month. Rajamouli narrated a wonderful script to me. But that movie will start after the completion of all my other projects.”
When enquired about his daughter Sitara: “My daughter Sitara is six-month old. She cutely smiles at everyone”, said Mahesh with a sweet smile on his face.
When asked about his interest on remake films he commented, “I’ve no interest in doing remake films as I find it boring to repeat the same which others have already done.”
“I’m ready for multi-starrer movies with my peers provided the filmmakers come out with scripts that would motivate me”, he revealed his desire to work in more multi-starrer movies.
Mahesh became emotional when the topic of ‘Vishwaroopam’ opened. He said, “It’s very unfortunate that Kamal Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ is surrounded by controversial issues. I’m a great fan of him. When I saw his interview recently in one of the TV channels, I really felt his pain very deep. I’m yet to watch ‘Vishwaroopam’. I wish the movie will overcome all obstacles and turn into a box-office block-buster in Tamil Nadu.”
Speaking about his dad’s reaction on his films he said, “My dad is the perfect judge for my films. After watching the film, his face expressions will tell whether the film is a hit or flop. In that way, after watching SVSC, he commented that Venkatesh and I looked like real brothers. He was very happy that I was part of one such wonderful movie.”
About his son Gautham’s reaction on SVSC he said, “Seetamma Vakitlo…’ is the first film which my son Gautham watched in a theater. At first, he was little hesitant to come to theater since he hates to watch the fights and blood-shed. But when we convinced him that SVSC would not have such scenes and took him to theater, he thoroughly enjoyed the movie from start to end. So, that itself signified the film would be a big hit.”
Lastly he concluded the press conference saying, “I’ve no plans to go to Bollywood as my full focus is on Telugu films.”
