Sharwanand exudes optimism over some fine scripts that will go on floors this year. Having cultivated the image of a bankable artiste over the years, he is looking to widen his market with his next few projects. Satamanam Bhavati that is releasing for Sankranti is his first full fledged village-based story. “True. Andari Banduvaiyya had a little bit city atmosphere but this happens to be the first story set completely in a village. The entire crew and cast has worked together for around 50 days, but even now we carry the same feeling. It takes you back to the village. Babai, tatha ... you will enjoy the moments, the small cute things. From a 20 year old to 60, all will relate instantly,” he says.
Ask him if he had been strategising his moves and if he regretted producing Ko Ante Koti , he quips, “Right from the beginning, I’ve been doing different cinema consciously; I have never taken a risk and neither did I plan my career. The only time I erred was Ko Ante Koti as a producer. Many producers wanted to make it and it had buyers too, so I could have made a profit. But I wanted to be answerable for the film. No one is responsible for Ko Ante Koti and I truly and totally take the responsibility. I won’t say I will or I won’t produce another movie; I will go with the flow. Right now I am busy with my films and in a happy space.”
Did he do Run Raja Run because he got bored with content-oriented intense stories? He replies emphatically, “I realised that the larger number of audiences you entertain, the better cinema you make. I would like to cover all segments. Cinema cinema ki hero peragali . My mindset is all about which story excites me and how many more people I can entertain. Had I made a shift to commercial cinema, I wouldn’t have been a part of Express Raja or Malli Malli Rani Roju or Satamanam Bhavati . Satamanam... will reach a bigger audience; I am looking at stories bigger than what I have done before. I make sure genres are different.”
Spotlight Sharwanand and Anupama Parameswaran in ‘Satamanam Bhavati’
He adds, “There is so much to learn. If you look at what Aamir Khan has done, I am like ‘where are we, where am I?’ I do a lot of introspection even after the film releases, I love my films so much that it is like I am selecting my girl. Sometimes I get really angry when something goes wrong in the process of film making. I need to see how well my producer is making it. I keep fighting and get things done. It is not about how big or small my role is, it is about the film.”
He says he is blessed when people go to the theatres trusting his presence in it. He avers, “I feel responsible; to hold such faith is not easy. I don’t think that I need to release this many films in a year. If the script is good and the director has conviction, the film will work. I ask them if they believe that I can pull it off. People are experimenting more. There used to be more formula films, but now there’s more experimentation.”
