Superstar Mahesh Babu is currently having the most rewarding time of his career. He has scored 3 consecutive successes at the Box Office (Dookudu, Businessman, SVSC) and two of the films have gone past the 64 Cr mark in terms of revenues. The actor spoke to the media today about the success of SVSC and about his forthcoming projects. Here is the transcript of that conversation folks.
Q. How do you feel about the success of SVSC?
A. I am extremely happy about this movie’s success. It has reaffirmed the faith Venkatesh garu and I had in the script. Both of us worked for the movie by keeping our ‘star image’ aside. We were confident about the film’s success and we worked very hard for it.
Q. Will you be working for any multi-starrers again soon?
A. There is nothing in the pipeline for now and it may take a while for such things to materialize again. Someone like Srikanth should come with a suitable script. If I find the right story, I will surely act in it.
Q. Some people have said that your star image is one of the biggest reasons for SVSC’s success.
A. That is not true. I am not the only star in the film.
Q. Did SVSC influence you in anyway and change you as a person?
A. As a person, I have changed quite a bit over the past few years. SVSC did not cause any special changes in me (Smiles)
Q. Your son Gautham launched the film’s audio. He has also seen the film. How did he react?
A. You know, this is the first film which Gautham and I saw together completely. He is not a fan of fights and action sequences and as a result of that, he did not watch too many of my previous flicks. He was pretty excited after he saw the film.
Q. What do you look for when a new script is narrated to you? The story or your characterisation?
A. The story gets my vote. It is becoming quite tough to get a good story line these days and I have been very fortunate in that aspect. After Dookudu, I have managed to act in two films with strong story lines. I don’t care much about characterization once a story appeals to me.
Q. After Trisha, Samantha is the only heroine you have worked with multiple times. Did the success of Dookudu play a part in her selection?
A. I am shy person by nature and I take some time to establish a comfortable working relation with a heroine. I have a good rapport with Samantha and that played a part in her selection.
Q. You have become the superstar of the NRI market. Your films are earning huge revenues in overseas territories….
A. I am very grateful to the Telugu people living abroad for giving me huge hits every time. Even for Khaleja, the revenue overseas was superb. SVSC has gone past Dookudu in overseas revenues and I am really happy about that.
Q. Are you going to remake any of Superstar Krishna’s hits?
A. No, I don’t believe in the concept of remakes. I believe filmmaking is a creative process and we should always look for something new. If you do a remake, there will be no excitement during shootings and on the sets. I can’t work in such circumstances. That is the reason why I don’t attempt remakes – be it old Telugu films or Tamil/Hindi films.
Q. Some people say you have increased the market potential of Telugu Cinema. Your comments?
A. It is not fair to say that I have increased the market potential of Telugu Cinema. You see, whenever there is a big blockbuster in the industry, the market potential automatically increases irrespective of the hero. It happened for Pokiri. It happened for Magadheera. It happened for Dookudu. I have been lucky to get good directors and good films. That is all.
Q. How is Sukumar’s film shaping up? Is ‘Acharya’ the title under consideration?
A. No. Acharya is not the title under consideration. I will inform you guys as soon as we finalize a title (Smiles) . As for the film itself, it will be very different from Sukumar’s previous flicks. He has given me a totally new characterization in this movie.
Q. Some people say that you are the next no. 1 after NTR and Chiranjeevi. What do you say about this?
A. I don’t believe in the numbers game. I want to make good films and be remembered for my work, that is all. I will never agree that I am no.1, but if you guys say I am no.1, it is upto you (smiles).
Q. What are your upcoming projects?
A. Apart from Sukumar and Sreenu Vaitla’s films, I have okayed three other projects. I will work with Vamsi Paidipally, Krish and Puri Jagan.
Q. When will you work with Rajamouli?
A. I will work with Rajamouli for sure. I even had a meeting with him about this. Both of us are excited about the prospect of working together. But we have our respective projects to complete first. Once they are done, we will start off.
With that, we ended our conversation with Superstar Mahesh Babu. We hope you liked our interview.
Interviewed by Ashok
(Translated by Emmess)
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