Actor Srinivas Avasarala’s debut movie Oohalu Gusa Gusalade as a director is due. With a repertoire of 14 films, we might think the chance to direct has come quite early but the man thinks otherwise. It took him two and a half years to find a producer, someone who believed in the story and not ask him to get the dates of popular heroes. It was obviously stressful when he was told to bring established actors and not newcomers. Srini, as he is fondly called by the industry folks says, “There is a misconception that established heroes have a market but we fail to see that they have bigger flops. I was looking for a producer who believed in the strength of the story and would promote it without any stars in it. They naturally had their doubts as they think I am soft and had too many questions. Once they were convinced that I knew what I was doing I was given a free hand.”
About the title and the film, Srinivas says, Oohalu Gusa Gusalade “The title is a lyric from a popular film song and is a romantic comedy.I had a great team in Showrya and Raashi Khanna. I am much more confident directing this film at this point of time.”
Would he continue to act now that his career as director is about to take off? The auteur negates, he says he wasn’t thinking about acting as a stepping stone to direction and direction is something that he wanted to do but only when he had time to tell a story and when he was convinced about it. He informs, “Acting doesn’t take much of your time, but I don’t want to do direction and acting simultaneously, it takes your focus away.”
