After SS Rajamouli, Srinu Vaitla is Tollywood’s most successful director. For all his success he believes that his comedy style has attracted all kinds of audiences a lot. He swears that ‘Dookudu’ success has strengthened his comedy style which eventually raised the audience’s expectations on his latest release ‘Baadshah’ due to which he had to undergo immense pressure. In a media interview, he expressed, “I penned ‘Dookudu’ script keeping Mahesh Babu in mind, and ‘Baadshah’ for NTR.” Now in theaters, the movie is sweeping the box office with opening collections in India and abroad. Here are few excerpts from the director’s interview.
My belief in comedy and audience accepting it is the reason for my success
I faced immense pressure due to high expectations on ‘Baadshah’ since it was coming soon after ‘Dookudu’. However, it made me forget my one year efforts which I had put in for the best output. My belief in comedy and the audience accepting it is the only reason for my continuous success. NTR gave a warm hug seeing the audience’s reaction. What more do I need?
There may be Dookudu impact on Baadshah
Every director has his own style. Audiences expect comedy from me. ‘Dookudu’ has strengthened my style. Hence there may be ‘Dookudu’ impact on ‘Baadshah’.
NTR can compete with himself only
This is my first film with NTR. He is younger to me but he achieved movie-star status. But he was a normal as anyone on the sets. He respects the director and addresses me as ‘Anna’ affectionately. His has an amazing memory power. He can compete with himself only in delivering the dialogue on a single shot and performing the dance step without any rehearsal. When the title ‘Baadshah’ was suggested he specially requested for that title.
A director should prepare a script keeping a hero in mind
According to me, a director should prepare a script keeping a hero in mind. Only then he can do complete justice to the story. While I penned ‘Dookudu’ story visualizing Mahesh Babu in the character, I designed ‘Baadshah’ especially for NTR only. Audiences are attracted to NTR’s dialogues and dances, along with Banti Janaki’s comedy in first half and Brahmanandam’s comedy in second half.
I tried to come out with more specialties
In order to reach the audience’s expectations, I tried my best to come out with more specialties like Mahesh Babu’s voice-over, Siddharth’s special role, Navdeep’s negative role, Simbu’s song, etc. I’m very glad on Mahesh Babu’s voice-over for the film. When I requested him for it with the idea of having a hero’s voice-over for another hero’s movie, his response was instant.
I did not criticize Ram Gopal Varma and Rajamouli
Satires in my films are as per the story demand. I don’t add satires intending to hurt someone. It’s meaningless to say that I criticized Ram Gopal Varma and Rajamouli. However, satire on Dil Raju is no doubt a piece of realism. We intend to tell audience that no one can match him in making romantic entertainers. I told him about it before adding it in the film.
It took sometime for me to grasp Nagarjuna’s point
When I first made ‘Nee Kosam’, Nagarjuna commented on the film saying that it’s good but it would have been even better had it entertained the audience with some comedy. It took a while for me to catch that point. But there is no turning back after I realized it. So in case I do any film without comedy, it will only be an experimental movie. Nevertheless I don’t have such thoughts right now.
I’ve my own calculations in doing films
I calculate the movie budget, marketing budget and its business before creating a movie. I always follow this method because the producer trusts the director and invests money.
My next film is Adugu with Mahesh Babu
He concluded his interaction saying, “My next film is with Mahesh Babu. We have decided the title ‘Adugu’ for it.”
