Happiness is the key

After a successful debut, Vijay Kumar Konda returns with a romance and hopes to prove he is no flash in the pan.

Vijay Kumar Konda with Naga Chaitanya during the making of the film. Photo: Special Arrangement

He is quite a reticent man, but once he gets to know a person, he becomes very chatty. Vijay Kumar Konda is extremely confident about Oka Laila Kosam starring Naga Chaitanya and Pooja Hegde and stresses it will be a bigger hit than his debut movie Gunde Jari Gallanthayinde .

Did he expect GJG to be such a phenomenal success? “The result was more than what we expected. If you see a person in positive light everything appears positive, so here too the audience saw the film that way. We knew how they would react to a particular scene but we didn’t see this big a thing coming. I was flooded with calls and I switched off the phone and went away somewhere to think what I should be doing next. Things have changed; if you first film is a hit and second is not, people will forget you. I had seven stories but didn’t know which one I should choose. I didn’t want to choose an adventurous plot and took up a love that would sail safely,” he says.

Vijay Kumar explains that the title

Oka Laila Kosam is about what a young man can do to win love. Love is not about stalking or how one expresses it; it is the process of winning over someone and wanting the girl or boy one loves to be happy. He quips, “In the current scenario, the boy and girl have a great sense of individuality or clarity in thought and action. Even if you offer them a huge diamond they will not accept it if they don’t like it; they have strong likes and dislikes. Whatever one does, the base is happiness — be it a cup of coffee or meeting a friend. The story is based on this point.

There is an ensemble cast to support the story — 10 people from the girl’s family and 10 from the boy’s side; some of their scenes will remind the audience of

Pelli Sandhadi or Ninne Pelladutha . These are scenes one will find in their relatives’ wedding function.”

The director didn’t want to change the genre because he believes that his producer should recover the money invested in the project, his artistes should get a hit and the audiences should leave the theatre satisfied. The trailer received 3,58,000 hits in four days. He avers, “Our trailers don’t reveal all like Hollywood films; a few friends saw it and voiced their fears.

They asked me why I came out with so many important scenes and dialogues but Nagarjuna allayed my fears; he said it was good and asked me to proceed. Last week, I saw the edited copy of the first copy like a common moviegoer. When I see the film, I erase the thought that the film is mine and that I am a director. Naga Chaitanya’s dances will be a surprise and Pooja overwhelmed me with her dedication. You found some homosexual jokes in

GJG , but this one is bereft of any such dialogues.”

Finally, Vijay reveals that the best part of the film is the climax but he personally loved the three songs shot in Switzerland in snow, sunshine and rain. “The film is about a youngster who travels for six months to see the world and seek happiness,” he concludes.