Dil Raju has big plans

It is my life ambition to work with Pawan Kalyan. Just because he has agreed to do a film with me, I will not rush with it - Dil Raju

When Dil Raju parted the worldwide theatrical rights of his next, ‘Supreme’, to Abhishek Pictures, it did raise quite a few eyebrows. But the ace producer, a prominent distributor himself, is quick to point out that he wanted a change this time around.

“I parted the rights only after I felt that the film will be a sure-shot success. Nonetheless, I will be distributing it in my stronghold areas like Nizam, Visakhapatnam and the US.” After ‘Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’, the producer hasn’t had a hit that befits his production house’s reputation.

Begging to differ, he insists, “I engage in multiple ideas to make multiple films and as such I can’t invest two years on a script like Raj Kumar Hirani to recreate feats of making great film every time.

If I feel a particular script has the potential to be a great film, I will invest more time on it. And if it’s a commercial plot like ‘Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitham’ or ‘Subrahmanyam For Sale’, I don’t set out to make a great film from them. I’m very clear with this approach.”

The top shot is presently awaiting the release of ‘Krishnastami’ directed by Vasu Varma. The director made ‘Josh’, an average grosser, with Raju earlier. While many producers don’t muster the courage to invest on a failed maker, Raju has done the quite opposite.

Ask him why? “I’m aware of Vasu’s capabilities. ‘Josh’ didn’t work out for various reasons, which I’m aware of. After its release I gave him a word saying that he will leave Dil Raju office premises only after delivering a hit,” he reasons.

Having produced films with stars and rank newcomers, Raju maintains that he is comfortable working with both of them. “With stars, when you lock on a release date you can’t alter it whereas with new faces I can release the film at my own will.

If I don’t like a particular scene on sets I can rectify it at the editing table. Even if it’s beyond repair, I will go for a re-shoot. I can’t have the same liberty with stars because their dates are worked out already.”

Continuing in the same vein, he adds, “After Prabhas saw the final edit of ‘Mr. Perfect’, he said, ‘Bhayya, manam anukunna feeling ravatledhu (It is not conveying the feeling that we’ve conceived).’ He showed us the error and we rectified it by reshooting for 17 days.

And I’m proud of saying that I’ve re-shot ‘Mr. Perfect’. I believe in deciding the fate of a film at the editing table itself. “If I have two-three month window for a star film’s release after its completion, I can deliver super hits with stars too.”

While Raju will steer films like ‘Sathamanam Bhavathi’ (with Raj Tarun), ‘Feel My Love’ (Varun Tej) up next, he is gung-ho about his collaboration with Krishna Vamsi. He will also be exploring new markets with the thriller whose details are guarded.

“The idea is to make it in Telugu and Tamil simultaneously and later dub in Hindi. It will be high on visual effects. The paper work is still going on,” he states with a glint in his eyes.

Raju last year announced that his favourite star Pawan Kalyan has agreed to feature in a film under his banner. Prod him on its progress and he responds, “It is my life ambition to work with him.

Just because he has agreed to do a film with me, I will not rush with it. My focus lies on script and I’m working towards it.” He is ready to pay powerstar a big fat cheque too. “Economics doesn’t figure for some films and my film with him will be one such effort.

It would only be made with passion and love. I’ve made ‘Krishnastami’ on a budget of Rs 20 crore. No producer has invested more than Rs 10 crore till now on Sunil but I did because I believed in the subject,” he signs off.