You looked quite excited at a function held to felicitate you. Was it also a trip down memory lane while meeting your erstwhile heroines?I was definitely thrilled as I was bowled over by Amitabh Bachchan?s humility. Once I invited him for an 100-day function of my film and he showed keen interest but it was cancelled. Next time he spoke from his hospital bed expressing his inability to attend my daughter?s wedding. Unlike others, I adore him as a great human and he was deeply moved when the audience gave him a standing ovation at the function. He is like a beacon to me in planning a career after reaching the ?peak? and not during my initial days.
To some extent even Rajnikant has shown us a path of choosing different films that would keep our position and charisma intact. Amitabh Bachchan is one of the superstars who has sustained his charisma for a very long time since he was even voted as the star of the millennium. However my heartfelt thanks to him for coming all the way to felicitate me and I am humbled. I never had this practice of recollecting the past as I like to move ahead. And also relaxing as always has been a luxury for me. But I did go on a trip down memory lane while meeting my heroines. It reminded me how so many years have passed by just like that. However I regret not sparing time for a photo shoot with my yesteryear co-stars.
After the not-so-impressive Adharivadu and Jai Chiranjeeva, will you stay away from plot-less comedies? Will you explore other genres as an alternative to your larger-than-life roles?
Barring one character, Andharivadu turned out be a disappointment. To be frank, I think I made a mistake by doing a film like Jai Chiranjeeva since it was never my kind of film. It was a poorly-made film since it couldn?t carry even ?one? emotion convincingly to hold audience interest. Even an avenging angle went unnoticed as people felt that Chiranjeevi?s anger was in vain after failing to save the life of a girl child. But I would prefer do a comedy like Shankar Dada MBBS which had a purposeful message than doing plot-less comedies. As you said I would like to explore other genres including thrillers as an alternative to my larger-than-life roles. Even an investigative storyline sounds interesting.
In a rare gesture, for your fans, you held a separate wedding reception of your daughter. Thanks for acknowledging it. I started considering fans as my brothers when they extended their helping hand even to my social services like eye and blood banks. Also we stars keep saying that we should do something for our fans but we rarely do it. Moving ahead on this rhetoric, I resolved to hold a wedding reception for my fans alone. Though a few advised against it, I stuck to my view and had more than 10,000 fans attending and blessing my daughter. I felt completely satisfied after receiving their best wishes.
But unfortunately you hurt them by hiking ticket rates for your last release? Do you prefer a roll back?
On this I want to elaborte a bit. We never intended to hurt anyone since primarily we wanted to recover huge costs as quickly as possible and also to cut down on black marketing. Our humble request to people who can?t afford new rates is to stay away in the ?initial? weeks since it is only meant for people who shell out 1000?s for one ticket in black market. Rest can come to theatres and buy tickets for normal rates after two weeks. Besides retaining the right of a producer to fix the rate for his product depending on its quality, read multi-crore extravaganza rates, are affordable in this day of growing per capita. Ticket rates varying between ?first? and subsequent weeks is not new for the audience in our neighboring states and also in US. Soon our audience would realise that ?big-budget? films come only for a premium ?initially? and in due course, black marketers would be eased out.
You replaced director Murugadoss for the remake of Tagore but you seem to have gained confidence about him as he is helming you in your next Stalin?
On the contrary, it was he who withdrew from Tagore since he felt that his ?content? would be diluted while blending commercial elements like songs and comedy. He was also sceptical about the altered resolution since he was very sensitive about his story. Later he happened to attend a function of my film Indra and was spellbound watching unprecedented crowds. With this impact, he narrated a brief line while returning and I liked it.
He packed it with all commercial ingredients realising that with proper blending you can entertain audience without diluting the theme. He is promising maker with taste for good plot and refreshing scenes and even postponed films with Rajnikanth and Vikram to complete our film. It would urge citizens to think about society besides thinking about themselves invariably meant to trigger social conscience among people. It will be more engrossing than Tagore but I don?t want to hype more and evoke big expectations. However it is packaged to satisfy my following.
Will you be launching your son Ram Charan Teja this year and also can you elaborate on your other projects?
Actually we were planning to launch him this August but the latest update is that he has requested us to postpone the venture for one more year. Some big producers are showing interest and let?s see how things turn out. I am planning to do a period film set during freedom struggle and we are invoking a legend. I could even ask Krishnavamsi to direct it but as of now things are in a fluid state. And also at this stage I am finding it very difficult to get ?novel? scripts and as I told you sometime back I could even establish a team of writers to ease my pressure.
You seem to be happy endorsing Thums Up and Navrathana Oil. Do you intend to expand your trust activities?
I am quite happy barring occasional controversies about soft drinks. Even excessive intake of food is unhealthy, so anything done within limitations cannot cause any harm. Besides the money earned out of these endorsements will help us to run our trusts much better since I was providing funds from my pocket for the last seven years. We are discussing few ideas on expansion but nothing concrete has been arrived at.
