We are not good actors but we are stars

My father never interfered in my career and I believe that’s what made me grow

- Nagarjuna

Four years ago I watched ‘The Intouchables’ along with Amala. I was so impressed by it that I wanted someone to remake it in Telugu

It’s been more than a year since superstar Nagarjuna was seen on screen but the actor, who will be celebrating his 56th birthday today, will be compensating his long absence with back-to-back releases.

While he insists that ‘Soggade Chinni Nayana’ (SCN), his home production, will be completed by September 20, his yet-to-be-titled Telugu-Tamil bilingual with Tamil star Karthi will be wrapped up by October. “I will be hosting the third season of Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu (MEK) too.

My dates are being worked out as the programme producers want me to shoot for 60 episodes,” he states. About ‘Soggade Chinni Nayana’ where he plays dual roles – that of a father and son – he says it’s a full-length comedy entertainer. “It’s a story of a father and son. While the former is a hardcore romantic, the latter, a doctor, is naive.”

In the making for a long time, the film was in the news recently for the addition of Sai Madhav Burra, who wrote dialogues for films like ‘Krishnam Vande Jagudgurum’ and ‘Malli Malli Idhi Raani Raju’. Nag shares that he was signed on to enhance the overall product.

“We wanted a third person’s perspective and so we asked him to join us. I believe one individual cannot work on a story alone. Even for ‘Manam’, director Vikram Kumar took inputs from many people and we incorporated the best out of them (into the film),” he avers.

After a pause, he adds, “I felt there was a certain lag in the film and wanted to make it more interesting. Thus, we took the help of Sai.” Nag, who generally concentrates on one film at a time, is seen juggling between the sets of ‘SCN’ and his film with Karthi – after a long time.

Ask him whether it is difficult to focus on two films at a time, he responds, “It’s quite ok. I will be shooting for MEK too, soon. That will be more difficult because I need to be on my guard all the time.”

His film with Karthi is his first attempt at a remake after more than 15 years. The film is the official remake of French hit ‘The Intouchables’. Known to prefer original screenplays, ask him about the sudden shift, he says, “I was never averse to star in remakes.

It’s that I don’t run after them. Lot of people run after remakes, may be because it’s a safe option. I never had the habit of running to Chennai and Kerala to grab the rights. If they come my way and if I like the film I will do it.

I did ‘Nuvvu Vastavani’ and ‘Ninne Premistha’ because Super Good Films were associated with them. During their making (in Tamil), they approached me to star in the Telugu remake.”

Nag is happy that he was offered ‘The Intouchables’ remake. “Four years ago I watched the film along with Amala. I was so impressed by it that I wanted someone to remake it in Telugu. Furthermore, I wanted to play the wheelchair-bound role.

But never did I imagine that Vamsi Paidipally (film’s director) will come to me with the proposal,” he gushes. “Now that both Naga Chaitanya and Akhil are busy (with films), I want to do different kind of cinema and the project with Vamsi is a first step towards it. He says he is not concerned about Chaitanya’s career.

Chaitanya’s last two films – ‘Autonagar Surya’ and ‘Dohchay’– failed to leave any impact at the turnstile. “I’m happy that is experimenting instead of opting for run-of-the-mill stories. I’m only concerned when he is not happy in real life.”

Nag has also refrained from giving his inputs to Akhil’s maiden project ‘Akhil’. “I listened to the script and felt it could make a good project. Moreover, VV Vinayak is a proven director,” he states. “Akhil was crystal clear in what he wanted to do. It was his decision to do the film.

I believe in giving both my children their own freedom as I feel they are capable and intelligent enough to take their own decisions. I’m there to guide them if they need any advice. My father never interfered in my career and I believe that’s what made me grow. It is the same reason if you ask me to list out best films of my career, I can give you ten.”

In the industry for more than 25 years, Nag hates the term ‘experiment’. “Why should we experiment? I don’t know what do you mean by experiment? Are ‘Rajanna’ and ‘Gaganam’ experiments? I don’t think so. I thought both the films will run and so I made them. Is my film with Karthi an experiment? No, I don’t think so.

I thought it will run commercially and hence I decided to do it. Why should I do parallel cinema. I want everyone to see my films. Very few get the opportunity to become stars though they are not good actors. I myself say that we are not good actors but we are stars because of people’s blessings; they saw something in us.

The irony is there are better actors out there but they are not stars.” With his diary filled for the year, Nag is finding difficult to make time for his favourite director K Raghavendra Rao too– for a possible devotional drama. “It is difficult.

I’m sometimes thinking what I am doing. There’s hardly any time for anything these days for me,” smiles Nag, who has set his eyes on doing an action film up next. “I haven’t done an action film for a long time. I want to do a slick action flick. The discussions have been going on secretly,” he smiles wide on a signing off note.

By Nagaraj Goud