I’d make a ‘Kick’-style entertainer with Chiranjeevi

Surender Reddy on taking the remake route with ‘Dhruva,’ why he is pretty chilled ahead of the release, Ram Charan and more…

Surender Reddy is quite relaxed ahead of the release of ‘Dhruva’. He is not brooding the non-success of his earlier film ‘Kick 2’. He believes that the script of ‘Dhruva’, a remake of the Tamil box-office smash ‘Thani Oruvan’, is strong, and is devoid of any allegiance to either the hero or the villain. This potion, he believes, will be the USP and also its trump card.

“Irrespective of how well you make it, it’s a minimum guarantee venture because the strong content is the fulcrum that can tip the scales favourably,” he points out. ‘Dhruva’ narrates the tale of an IPS officer (Charan) who wants to arrest Siddharth Abhimanyu (Arvind Swamy), an influential scientist whose nefarious activities include using illegal medical practices for profit.

In fact, when Suri (as the director is more popularly known) decided to collaborate with Charan, ‘Thani Oruvan’ remake was not on the agenda. “We were travelling with an original script when Charan happened to watch ‘Thani Oruvan’. Impressed by it, he later asked me to watch it. I liked it and he wanted to know if he should do it, which I endorsed. It was only after I gave my take on the film in its entirety did he ask me to helm it. Pleasantly surprised, I sought two days time to decide on the offer.”

Suri gained confidence about rendering justice to the script and gave his assent after watching the movie multiple times. But he admits that remakes are very tough. “’Dhruva’ is the toughest film of my career,” he declares, adding, “The problem was that I had to adhere to the script. I couldn’t improvise much, fearing that another scene would get affected in the process. Had I done an original script, I would’ve gone all out with improvisations but with ‘Dhruva’ I was limited.”

After making suitable changes to the script like making Charan’s character more vibrant as opposed to the ‘dull portrayal’ of Jayam Ravi Suri met the original director Mohan Raja to clear apprehensions he had about certain portions in the film. “Two days before the film went on floors, I met Raja and discussed why he conceived some scenes and shot them in a certain way. His answers were of great help,” Suri shares.

Suri has high praise for Charan, describing the actor as a director’s delight. “I had pre-conceived notions about him, which were laid to rest after I spoke with him. He’s a kind-hearted soul, who honours his word, come what may. He has not just given me the freedom script-wise and making-wise but also gave me the technicians that I desired,” he reveals, adding that the actor’s work ethics to get six-pack abs impressed him big time.

“If you toil hard in the gym, you’ll get six-pack abs but to sustain it for eight months is a difficult task. I’ve been amazed with his dedication, although, at times, I felt bad seeing him slog.”He admits he was keen on Arvind Swamy to play the scheming villain from the very beginning. But isn’t it true that the Tamil actor took a long time to sign on the dotted line?

“As soon as we approached him, he said he’ll do it but wanted to go through the changes. I met him a week later with the changes and he said he is in the very next day,” he avers fondly. ‘Dhruva’s running time is close to 160 minutes. However, Suri tells us that he is not out of tune with the current demands.

“All my films have been over two hours and 30 minutes. Recent films like ‘Srimanthudu’ and ‘Janatha Garage’ too were over two hours and 30 minutes but they still succeeded at the box-office, right?” Next up, while he is planning to do a small film, he has set his sights on directing megastar Chiranjeevi.

At the audio launch of ‘Race Gurram’ two-and-half- years ago, Chiru had expressed an intention to feature in a film like ‘Kick’, much to the delight of Suri. Is the collaboration happening any time soon now that the megastar is back? “I’ll be directing him. It might happen next year. Personally, even I aspire to make a ‘Kick’-style entertainer with him.”