Make or break film

For Sundeep Kishan, an actor who believes in the story and the right blend of technicians, ‘Venkatadri Express’, is a ‘make or break’ film from his career point of view. “It is my first hero film and is a script that I’ve been closely associated with. I have been travelling with it for the past many months and it has the right cast and technicians in place. It is a film where I’ve gained more as an actor. It has no relation to ‘Chennai Express’. Since it revolves around a train we christened it as ‘Venkatadri Express’,” the actor says and adds that it’s a concept-based film laced with commercial elements. “It’s like Puri Jagannadh directing ‘Aa Naluguru’.”

The story of a person who commits 99 mistakes and is on the verge being thrown out of his home, he says he plays a character who is quick to respond to the needs of others. “However, in the process he commits errors after errors,” he giggles.

Stating that his friend/director Gandhi is an out-of-the-box thinker, he says, “For a director who never worked as an assistant director, he is extremely patient and is highly mature. He did a couple of short films but his biggest strength is writing and it will be obvious soon. He has got biggest technicians on board with his script.”

He insists that Rakul Preet Singh, his co-star, was the first choice of the film. “We were keen on her for ‘Routine Love Story’ but due to her date hassles, we couldn’t rope her in. When Gandhi thought of a heroine for our film, he felt she was appropriate. Moreover, she speaks good Telugu and it turned out to be a major asset for the movie.”

Reflecting upon his last film ‘Mahesh’s performance, he says the producers made money even though it failed to woo the audience. “The Tamil humour couldn’t generate the same impact in Telugu. Add to that, 12 minutes of key footage was trimmed for the Telugu version and it played spoilsport,” he recalls and adds that he will never encourage dubbing a Tamil comedy of his into Telugu. “I’ve learnt a lesson or two.”

The suave actor considers himself to be ‘very lucky’ that producers are investing on him. “I remember the days when I was desperate to play Jyothika’s brother in Tamil remake of ‘Bhadra’. People laughed at me! Now when I go to Chennai, I still notice the people who travelled with their portfolios at production offices, while i got a big break.”

Scheduled to release this weekend, ‘Venkatadri Express’, made on a budget of Rs 7 crore, is produced by Anandi Arts.