Krish lauds workaholic Balayya

Director Krish, who has wrapped up ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’ at a record pace, says the film’s lead actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, like him, was another captain of the ship on the sets. “He would be the first to arrive on sets and the last to leave. Sometimes he would continue to work for 14 to 18 hours without any complaints.

He was the set assistant, the light boy besides being the hero,” raved Krish. He was speaking at the soundtrack launch of the film in Tirupati on Monday night.

The story chose Balakrishna, added Krish, and not the other way around. “After narrating the story, he got back to me in 14 hours, saying that we are doing the film. I’ve also took the opportunity to tell him that I will release the film for Sankranti,” he recalled.

The film tells the story of Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni who ruled central India around the 2nd century CE and his battles with Saka rulers of western India. Krish feels that had Satakarni been born in Rome or Greece, he would have been a bigger legend that what he is now in India. “Had he been born in Rome or Greece, he would have been documented in 100s of books.

At least 10 films would have been shot on his life with some of them bagging at least three Oscars,” Krish noted. “I first read about him in a text book. And as I got to know more about his rule and heroics through the works of BN Shastry and Viswanadha Satyanarayana, my blood boiled.”

He further said his wife Ramya, who he wed earlier this year in August, would be proud of the period drama. “Even though I couldn't devote much time to her post marriage, I know I've made a film that will make her proud. I need to thank her for being in my life and I love her," Krish declared.