There are a lot of firsts with Chadalavada Srinivasa Rao’s Head Constable Venkatramayya — a surprise last-minute entry into the Sankranti film race. It’s the director’s debut project; R Narayana Murthy teams up with Jayasudha for the first time (despite knowing each other for 30 years now) where he marks a rare departure from his vigilante-justice mode to turn a cop. This isn’t Jayasudha’s only release for Sankranti, she shares the frame with her popular on-screen counterpart Prakash Raj in Shatamanam Bhavati . Incidentally, she plays a lead role in the former and a doting grandmother to Sharwanand in the latter. We catch up with R. Narayana Murthy and Jayasudha to talk on what promises to be an eventful start to the year.
Narayana Murthy
Not everything the man says is politically correct and yet, you can’t ignore his presence in Telugu cinema over three decades. A witness to changing trends in the industry, he has yet not lost faith in making films that take a strong social stance. No wonder, many of his well-wishers called up to ask him ‘party marchesara’ when he turned Head Constable for his latest project. “The belief with which I’ve made my previous films hasn’t diminished at all. One has to understand that a cop is a foundation to a society, regardless of what comes and goes, they are the ones to ensure order in the way we function. I was honoured to take this up when the director narrated the story to me. He was particular to release the film for Sankranti, it’s a first for me,” he adds.
Every actor has his own audience, be it Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna or Dil Raju’s film and so do I, Narayanamurthy feels that watching films during Sankranti continues to be a ritual for people across the Telugu states. In the film, he raises a toast to N T Rama Rao’s role as an SP in Kondaveeti Simham , he puts up a frame of his in the background, the character he plays feels NTR (in Kondaveeti Simham ) an embodiment of an ideal cop. “The director too happens to be a fan of NTR garu, it blended well with the film’s theme,” he mentions.
R Narayana Murthy generally directs and produces his own films, this time he preferred to be only an actor alongside Jayasudha, whom he equates with Mahanati Savitri. “Not only the way she acts, Jayasudha garu is very professional on sets and moreover a good human being. She has acted with many legends, from NTR and ANR to Amitabh Bachchan, I felt honoured to share the frame with her,” he adds.
Many raised a furore when he rejected Puri Jagannath’s offer to star in Temper , but he feels that was a very amiable decision. “He came to me with a part that was special, no doubt. Yet, I came to Madras doing odd jobs, small roles, inching my way to be where I’m now. It’s a choice that I’ve taken to play lead roles and I prefer to stand by it, give me something like Somayajulu in Sankarabharanam and NTR in Aatma Bandhuvu , I’m still game for it.”
Jayasudha
A few decades ago maybe, when the actress had multiple releases during Sankranti, she would worry how would they fare at the box office. Now though, she’s happy to have done two diverse roles in Head Constable Venkatramayya and Shatamanam Bhavati . “The thrill may not be same now, a lot of things have changed in me these years,” she starts off. Jayasudha states her role in Head Constable.. has shades of her roles in Srimathi garu and Sathyabhama . “It falls in a similar genre and yet I was surprised to get it. The shoot was interesting, I forgot my age, weight and enjoyed the attention. I in fact know Narayana Murthy garu better than Prakash Raj, he considered Dasari garu as his guru, so we’ve sailed in the same boat since 30 years.” Knowing a person well meant, she was comfortable in most scenes including a few where she shakes a leg with the actor.
Given a choice, she admits Shatamanam Bhavati was a bigger challenge. “The director Sathish Vegesna gave me very little dialogues and I had to communicate with my eyes despite being in a major part of the film. My part didn’t allow me to preach, it was not an easy role, one reason, I was very happy with the job I did after watching a recent screening. When you act, the role feels like bits and pieces but when it came together on-screen, I was a satisfied actor. Dil Raju has always given me good characters. I and Prakash Raj have very contrasting roles as grandparents in comparison to Govindudu Andari Vadele ,” she adds.
Having grown up in metros for a major part of her life, Sankranti’s culture she feels is not strong in the urban scenario. “For me, all it means is new clothes as my parents insist on it, making chakkara pongal and buying cheruku .”
She doesn’t watch many films these days, but among her priorities are Hollywood films, she hopes to catch up with La La Land soon. As an actor too, she remains attached and yet distances from films and calls her shoots, ‘just another day in my life’.
