Just before taking off to Turkey with his family for the coming summer holidays lead actor Venkatesh took some time off to speak about his ready-for-release, Trisha co starring Adavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule and other professional issues.
Q: Why this 16 months gap between your last film Lakshmi and AMAV?
A: Firstly it was delayed because Sonia Agarwal, our first choice of heroine, got married to our director Selva Raghavan and we took time to finalize on Trisha and then it was my leg injury because of which we had to stall the shooting, till I recovered.
Q: Why did you choose to work with Selva Raghavan for this kind of story, given that Raghavan’s previous films have been teenage love stories?
A: I was impressed with his narration of 7/G Brindhavan Colony. He has interesting ideas regarding characterizations and that is what he did with AMAV. He did a lot of pre production work before we started shooting. I was impressed with his ideas.
Q: What genre does AMAV belong to?
A: AMAV is a romantic comedy cum family entertainer. The film showcase the love that the lead actors share and also brings forth the relationship that my character, Ganesh, shares with his father and his huge family of about 40 people. There are very strong emotional scenes also in the film.
Q: Why such a lyrical title? Doesn’t it suggest a female dominated storyline?
A: The title sounded different and unique to me. It reflects the heroine’s attitude towards love, in this film. Further more the title has created a lot of curiosity among the audiences. As for the title suggesting a female dominated storyline, that is not the case. My character is what drives the story forward and has enough weight age.
Q: Are there any action sequences in AMAV?
A: No. No action sequences in this film. See, fights are not the only way to project a person’s heroism. Sacrifice also counts for heroism. AMAV is a pleasant, emotional film with realistic and intense performances.
Q: What about the music? Which is your favorite song?
A: Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed wonderful music. The songs just blend into the storyline and narrate part of the story. There are no off the line songs with costume changes in every frame. “Allantha Dooraniki” by SPB is my favorite. It is a feel good situational song.
Q: When is AMAV releasing?
A: That you have to ask the producers. My job ends with acting.
Q: Tells about you film with Boyapati Seenu
A: It is a family drama with a strong child sentiment. My brother Suresh is the producer. Almost 60% of the shoot has been completed.
Q: You seem to be doing a healthy number of class and mass films. But don’t you think that now day’s actors are portraying the same kind of roles in every film?
A: I try to maintain the balance though not intentionally. As for other actors it is not really their fault that there is lack for good scripts. May be if more multiplexes come up then it would be easy to target the niche audiences. It is the young and upcoming actors who should take the initiative and go beyond formula films.
Q: Why do you think there is a lack for good scripts in our Industry?
A: Hyderabad does not have formal film institutes that can educate upcoming writers on the nuances of script writing. On top of that there are very few people in our state who take to reading. Hollywood has a huge collection of literary works which is a great source of inspiration for scriptwriters. We lack that kind of literary data base.
Q: Your comment on the huge amounts that the heroes are demanding these days
A: I have no comments on that. I come from a family of film producers and I am only concerned about making sure that my producers get profits in 99% of the cases.
Q: Where you not doing a Telugu version of the English movie Nutty Professor?
A: Yes. But that project did not materialize. I am looking at a variety of scripts and would like to do a ‘Forrest Gump’ kind of movie. My brother is also on the look out for a subject with a spiritual back drop.
Q: Are you happy with your profession?
A: I don’t think anybody is absolutely happy with what they do in its true sense. On the whole, when I look back on the kind of films that I did and the kind of success that I have achieved, I have no complaints.
Q: How will you define life?
A: Life is like a design. No matter how much you try to change it will finally turn out the way God wants it to be.
