Sunil Sharma, a Bapu discovery who worked in Bhagavatam , Radhagopalam , Sundarakanda and Buddha pleads, “I am dying to do a negative role. As an actor I'm capable of moulding myself in any form.” The television actor cum movie artiste is currently working in Ratnavali being directed by Allani Sreedhar. Sunil plays Tulsidas and he is well versed with the poet's story.
As a student he had read about the man who wrote Ramcharit Manas and Hanuman Chalisa ; he has vivid memories of Tulsidas mistaking a snake to be a rope and climbing his father-in-law's fortress in the cover of darkness to meet his beloved wife.
The actor talks about the virtues of the poet's work, “ Ratnavali is like a sweet dish. These days one cannot enjoy a movie with a family, it is so embarrassing. This one is informative, educative and enlightening.”
Director Sreedhar explains the history of Tulsidas in a nutshell, “Tusidas had written Valmiki Ramayan in Avadhi, a regional language, simplified for the common man. Before he embarked on writing, he faced a lot of pain. His father had left him, mother died, he married a rich girl and was intoxicated in her love. When she left him to stay with her parents, he went swimming in search of her. The wife advised him to demonstrate ten percent of his love for her to Lord Rama and she would consider herself blessed.” Ratnavali narrates the story, the film is told from her perspective; a woman sacrificing her youth, her husband in that time was considered great. The story is based on history, facts and evidences. Certain amount of creative liberty was taken to make it more communicative.
The director further adds, “I believe cinema is an art, not business. If you want to generate money from cinema then make the right kind of film. There is no guarantee that you will make money through commercial films. A lot of effort has gone into giving the film an authentic look, the costumes, make up et al.” Vijaychander plays Valmiki, Vani Vishwanath is Meerabai, AVS is the blind poet Soordas and Suman plays Kasi Raju, Puja Baluti is Ratnavali. The director had also produced Komaram Bheem 18 years back but it was released last year and had a successful run of 100 days.
The distributors didn't initially believe in the story so it was lying in the cans but with the Telangana struggle picking momentum, it got a smooth release and a terrific response. Ratnavali is due for release soon.
