Nagarjuna and Nani starrer ‘DevaDas’ directed by Sriram Aditya is gearing up for a grand release coming Thursday ie, 27th of September. Nagarjuna talks about his film ‘DevaDas’
Nagarjuna started his interview by delineating his characterisation...
Playing a don after a long gap. But, this cinema won’t deal with the don activities like settlements. It deals with the friendship between Nani and me. It just has a limited scope for romance but it still has and the best part is that it is with a beautiful lady Aakanksha Singh. This lady is a news reader from a very young age. I never met her but I am huge fan of her and Nani helps for our meet up. This don is not afraid of anyone, but with this girl it’s a different story all together. I am Deva, a don and a patient and Nani is Dasu, a doctor. Dava character never had friends till Das comes in.
Working experience with Nani…
Very easy to work with him. I don’t know him personally, but on screen I am very comfortable to work with. On screen we gelled well.
Only entertainment - no message...
The movie is full of fun. This movie will be in the lines of ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ and other Rajkumar Hirani movies.
It’s not exactly a safe bet..
At this age, it’s not easy to get a good script for a solo film. Now we are out of that love stories league/unemployed youth concepts/parent sentimental movies. We have only friends concepts. It will be comfortable for the writers to come up with stories based this concepts. I am doing Telugu-Tamil bilingual also with Dhanush with the same concept. Hindi Brahmastra is also a multi-starrer. It’s not exactly a safe bet to work in a multi-starrer. If it bombs people allege that they couldn't pull it off even with star studded casting. Nani is well established hero and I am here for quite some time now and this creates some additional pressure. The pressure will be more to make it. Expectations will be high for a multi-starrer. Comparatively these multi-starrers decrease the individual pressure but multiplies the combined pressure.
It’s a Vyjayanthi Movies selection…
The selection of this director is by Vyjayanthi Movie and Nani. Two years back Mumbai writer Sridhar Raghavan has narrated this script. It came to me first. I was very impressed and who plays the costar too matters a lot. Direct, screenplay and extracting proper output from actors is also matters a lot. The script went to multiple directors and finally the selection came from Nani. I have watched the movie ‘Samanthakamani’. It is also a screenplay oriented film. We can’t pinpoint a single person, it’s a team work. I just listened to the story and the rest was taken care by Nani and Dutt garu’s daughters Swapna and Priyanka. Swapna and Priyanka have delivered a blockbuster Mahanati’ very recently and they are very much capable.
The one aspect he likes the most in the film…
It makes you laugh. Earlier I said, there is no message. There is very slight message but not preachy as I said it’s just like in Raju Hirani films. That kind of feel you will get at the end.
Full of life...Full of energy…
Right from his childhood to the end, whatever problems and whatever stress he goes through, he dissolves with smile on his face. This is Deva for you. You will see that even in the climax.
Multi-starrer with same age group...Balakrishna and Chiranjeevi
Am I not of Nani’s age? (Laughs). No one came to me with such script. But, I feel that it will become boring to work with same age group heroes. You people will comment again that the film is of old age casting.
You have a charm and why don’t you do movies like ‘Hindi Medium’, ‘Papanasam’ as a father of kids?
Why should I? I don’t have kids (Laughs) and everyone is a brother. I don’t mind making if the film is right. But I think very young. I have not crossed not even 25 in my mind. That’s what I think.
Fitness secret…
Still doing what I have been doing for the past 30 years. Everything is in the mind.
About Vyjayanthi Movies…
My association with Vyjayanthi Movies started with ‘Aakhari Poratam’ and still continuing. When I hesitated to work with Sridevi as she is already a well established actress, Ashwini Dutt convinced me. For him film is passion. He himself told that DevaDas is a comeback film for him and Vyjayanthi Movies banner. I too felt as if it’s my own.
I like to see Nani’s films...
Ala Modalaindi, Evade Subramanyam, Majnu, Ninnu Kori, MCA and Eega, I have watched all his films. To me, movies movies movies should be larger than life. They should be real and at the same time there should be a magic.
It’s a disease…
Nani is a phone addict. He always busy with his phone. don’t know what he checks in phone. Even if a beautiful girl passes or sits next to him, he doesn’t give a glance. It’s a disease and it’s beyond repair.
Sumanth has many resemblances with ANR…
He is looking so good in ANR’s look. After seeing his getup from the film NTR, I didn’t recognise him. He has many resemblances to my father. May be because he has grown up with my father, he has same mannerisms.
Future projects...
Bangarraju is progressing steadily. Manmadhudu 2 title was registered. It might be useful for me or my sons’ future films.
Except the title and the bottle...
There’s no connection between yesteryears Devadasu and this, except the title and the bottle. This is just a laughing Devdas. Only laughing from starting till the end. On nostalgic basing we have chosen this title.
No regrets…
I have no regrets regarding my previous movies or any. I made the choice and did it myself. Sometimes we make a wrong choice. 99% of startups fail. At Least we have a better success rate.
About technical team…
Music is wonderful. ‘Emo Emo’ song is my favourite. It’s a beautiful song but it is on Nani. Cinematographer Shyam Dutta is a biggest asset for us. If I have to work with any technical team member again, It would be Shyam Dutta.
About the biopic…
No one approached me for the biopic of my father. But someone reached me for the biopic of sardar vallabhai patel secretary VP Menon which is a Netflix series. I rejected it softly because of my other commitments.
Karan Johar-Akhil film plans...
Karan Johar and Akhil are planning a film. He offered Akhil a film two years back itself. Actually, they both are good friends. I suggested Karan to make the film in Telugu. I advised him not to rush things.
