Sukumar: The ‘1’ man army

Gautham, like his dad Mahesh, is adamant on listening to the director, not his associates. When I asked my associates to look after his sequences, he came to me saying that meeru naku inka scene cheppaledhu - Sukumar

You don’t get to interact with director Sukumar often as he is extremely private. But for ‘1: Nenokkadine’ he is going all out as it is the fruit of his three years of hard work, perseverance and patience. Admitting that he is not a good narrator, he says, “I’m a confused soul. I was not clear when I narrated ‘1: Nenokkadine’ script to Mahesh in Goa. To add to my woes, the place where I narrated was noisy. After the narration, I left the place assuming that he may ask for another story sitting, but he rang me up to enquire who the heroine is? There you go, I felt I was lucky.”

The film has been in the news for taking a long time to be wrapped up. The number of shooting days exceeded from 145 to 170. But for the director, it was neither the money nor the time it took for completion. “Instead of producers, it was me who was afraid that it would cross the budget. I was like malli ekkuvaipothundo emo but they felt the film required a large scale. I never spoke about the budget to them. They are aware of the tricks of the trade and know where to spend the money and where to control it,” says the mathematics teacher-turned-filmmaker in a chat-a-thon.

He believes the credit should go for Mahesh, for the way he worked on his physique and carried his look. “He is a perfectionist. Even after I okayed a particular shot, he wanted me to go for another take. He is obsessed with giving a good performance. He never forgets the emotions of a sequence even if I shoot another shot pertaining to the same sequence that was shot months ago. I felt I’ve introduced a new hero.”

It was Sukumar’s idea of roping in Gautham Krishna for portraying Mahesh’s younger self as he was keen on a child who has striking resemblances to Mahesh. “When I dropped by Mahesh’s house sometime back, I’ve seen Gautham going on the floor all of a sudden. I was about to rush to him thinking that he fainted. But Mahesh insisted that Gautham was playing a trick to see whether he will come and lend a hand to him. I’ve realised Gautham is a potential actor and when I proposed his name to Mahesh, he had his apprehensions. I managed him to convince him for a successful trail shoot,” he recalls.

He continues, “Gautham, like his dad, is adamant on listening to the director, not his associates. When I asked my associates to look after his sequences, he came to me saying that ‘meeru naku inka scene cheppaledhu’. He took everyone by surprise with his performance. ‘Did my son do this’ was Mahesh’s reaction after watching his son’s portions.”

The director wants the audience and Mahesh fans to come prepared to watch the flick, an ‘emotional psychological thriller’. “It unfolds with every scene, the biggest USP of the film. People should come with a different mindset,” avers the director.

Up next, he has got a nod from NTR. “He liked the point. We would be moving on floors after four months,” he says as he opens up about his production banner Sukumar Entertainment Pvt Ltd. “My assistants and associates are bouncing off cool ideas to me. So I thought I may as well make money and get credit for their ventures,” he signs off on a smiling note.