Telugu cinema should now move on from the heady commercial formula to newer genres with newcomers in the cast and crew to bring in a welcome freshness. The year gone by saw off-beat films attracting discerning audiences, and 2014 will surely be one of “change”, said actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, who is making headway as a producer, too.
“I don’t like anything about 2013. Too many things have happened, including ‘Bhai’. I lost my way. Sometimes it happens, and I definitely feel bad about it,” he said, talking about the film that had Richa Gangopadhyay as his co-star.
But, the actor pointed out that he would definitely like to remember the year for ‘Uyyala Jampala’ (UY), which he had co-produced with D. Suresh Babu and P. Ramamohan on Sunshine Cinemas and Annapurna Studios banner.
“Everything about UY is new and fresh, and we are extremely happy at the response from the audiences, as most people are walking out of cinema halls with a smile on their faces,” he said.
He was all praise for his father Nageswara Rao when the chat turned to ‘Manam’, which has three generations of the Akkineni family in the cast.
“Despite feeling weak, he completed his shooting, and we set up a dubbing facility at his residence because he wanted to do it himself,” he said.
The film, directed by Vikram Kumar (‘Ishq’), has Shriya Saran as Nagarjuna’s heroine and Samantha cast opposite his son Naga Chaitanya. Music is by Anup Reubens.
“The change brought in by the likes of UY is what we have all been waiting for, and I can talk about Suresh and Ramamohan, too. It gave us immense pleasure. The New Year will surely usher in more such films, in an innovative genre. I like it so much that I am sure I don’t want to do regular films any more,” he said.
