Working with NTR was a breeze

Cinematographer-turned-director Santosh Srinivas is a relieved man as he is almost through with his second venture ‘Rabhasa’, with NTR in the lead role; barring a week’s work, the film’s shooting is all but over. While the unit is currently in Switzerland for a number on NTR and Samantha, the director is supervising the editing in Hyderabad. “They will return by July 24 after which we are planning to release the audio and the theatrical trailer,” he smiles, as we sit down with him for a chat.

Dubbing the film as a “youthful family entertainer laced with human values”, he shares, “NTR plays a responsible youngster. He will don a fashionable look in the first half and will be shown as a family man in the second half. The character is such that every mother would love to have a son like him.”

Working with the actor was fun, he says. “He reports on sets before the scheduled time and is very easy to join forces with. Though I worked with other artistes for many days, I enjoyed directing him the most.”

He has roped in two heroines – Samantha and Pranitha – for the flick. Both of them have impressive roles, he insists. “While Samantha has a full-length role, Pranitha ups the entertainment quotient.”

Admitting that there was pressure on him, considering that the likes of VV Vinayak, Puri Jagannadh and Sukumar failed to woo the audience with their second films, he says he took it as more of a responsibility. “I treat every film of mine as my first; a factor which I feel will get the best out of me. 300 families depend on a film and it’s better to be vigilant all the time,” he says, adding, “It’s not easy to direct a big star. You have to go prepared. ‘Rabhasa’ has been a satisfying experience because I was involved with aspects like story, dialogues, screenplay besides direction.”

Reacting to news that Koratala Siva has directed a few portions of the film while he was ill, he states, “I don’t want to react to rumours. I was down with jaundice for a couple of months and during that period, the team went ahead and completed four songs, that’s it.” What about the film getting delayed by a considerable time? “A film like ‘Rabhasa’, which has an ensemble cast, requires 160 working days, but we managed to complete the film in 135 days,” he responds.

While he couldn’t direct the Hindi version of ‘Kandireega’ due to his Tollywood commitments, he feels that ‘Rabhasa’ has all the elements to be remade in Hindi. “The story is strong. To begin with, NTR took me into confidence when I went with to him with a full-on entertainment script. But after a week, I felt the urge to add some more emotions. It is a complete script now. NTR and Brahmanandam’s sequences in the second half will leave the audience in splits. ”

Srinivas who always chants the mass mantra, says he would like to do a film like ‘Ye Maaya Chesave’ (YMC) sometime in the near future. “I love to watch romantic moves, though I’m a fan of mass masala potboilers. I will make a love story for sure,” he shares. However, his immediate assignment is a film with either Allu Arjun or Ravi Teja. “Bunny liked my script, but since I’m committed to making films for DVV Danayya and 14 Reels Entertainment, it remains to be seen how things work out. I’ve already registered a title ‘Thikka Regithe’ for the film,” he signs off.