This soft-spoken man became a household name after he brought together two stars on screen in Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu . As his film Mukunda releases, he is a bundle of nerves, a bit unsure if miracles get repeated.
Mukunda has no casting coup, but there is something definitely unique attached to it apart from being the debut project of Varun Tej, son of actor Naga Babu. Ask Srikant Addala, if he has any surprises in store for his audience or is it a regular family drama with a bit of everything thrown in a la SVSC and he says, “This is an action genre that revolves around rural politics, around a youth’s love, friendship and fracas. I am slightly apprehensive about people expecting the same family stuff from me but I have consciously decided to break away with it. Maybe I will make a family drama next, but this will not disappoint you.”
The director says he might try any genre — comedy, thriller a contemporary subject or an educative film — the next time round, but he chose this one because it was already 80 per cent ready and he had to just wrap it up. But why did he take two years to finish it? Srikant explains, “My wife was sick and I was running around hospitals. I devoted one year time to her and only after she got better I started finishing the script I had been working on for a long time. In SVSC there was a message, but here the main character doesn’t realise; there is no redemption. I was looking for a fresher and a dynamic personality and I found those qualities in Varun. He also comes from a filmi background and I thought it would be fetching for him as well as for me. He doesn't speak nineteen to the dozen in this film.”
Though Addala did follow the grammar pertaining to action movies, he also made sure that he included his sensibilities and the nativity of villages. He says cinema is such a powerful media that people will remember such films when they watch it later on in life. City life comes alive on a big canvas but not everyone gets to see the small details of villages and people's lifestyle. Ask him the advantages of directing a raw newcomer and an established artiste he observes, “Each comes with plus points; a star will carry the story till the rural areas. For a newcomer there should be a good story to support him since he comes without any baggage or a fixed image. The director can get very flexible with him. Varun has trained in Satyanand’s institute in Vizag; he worked hard before coming to this film.”
First it was Seetamma… , now Mukunda , why is the director getting sentimental about the titles? The auteur chuckles, “Deities names always let out something about the story. There is piety attached to Sita, with Mukunda it is war. Krishna appears mischievous but he led the circumstances to a war.”
Talking about his heroine he reveals he chose Pooja Hegde because he felt that she looked every bit a Telugu girl when he spotted her on a television commercial with Ranbir Kapoor. His mood at present: “It is like appearing for an exam well prepared but you never know you might get caught off guard with a smart question that you didn't expect at all.”
