I’d like to take a break from crime comedies, says Sriram Adittya

How do you feel about the success of the path-breaking film ‘Samanthakamani’. Did you have any doubts prior-to-release as it wasn’t run-of-mill kind ?
I am on cloud nine since Telugu viewers proved that they are game for variety and ready to patronise path-breaking films. Firstly, I should thank producer Anand Prasad who supported my novel plot and never wanted me to compromise for sake of commercial reasons.

Actually, ‘Samanthkamani’ was supposed to be my debut film, but producers were apprehensive about a debutant handling four big heroes. However, success of my maiden film ‘Bhale Manchi Roju’, paved the way to this crime thriller. Nonetheless, I was more confident than nervous.

How could you convince four heroes to share space since multi-starrers have gone into oblivion in T-town. Frankly, I didn’t find any difficulty in convincing them since they liked the script and screenplay immensely.

And also I didn’t narrate their individual roles, rather I made them to listen to the whole script, that worked in our favour. Despite being stars on their own right, Sundeep, Sudheer, Nara Rohit and Aadi shed their established images and breathed life into realistic characters and gave our film the much-needed fillip.

You seem to be fascinated with crime comedies?
That’s true. My first film ‘Bhale Manchi Roju’ was also on the same lines because I am fascinated with suspense thrillers. However, I would like to keep away from this genre for at least two years, as I like to explore other genres. And also I don’t want to be branded and confined to one particular kind of movies, as I have plenty of refreshing ideas in my mind and like to explore each one of them.

It is learnt that you are making a film with a big star? Who is he?
I don’t want to reveal the name, but I can confirm that I will work with a big star and may be another multi-starrer, but it’s too early to talk about it as I am fine-tuning the script. However, it will be a prestigious project and will also become a much-talked about film. Although, it’s not a thriller, it will explore a gamut of emotions. No doubt, the multi-layered script will be another path-breaking stuff.

Don’t you believe in usual potboilers with loads of songs and action sequences?
I have nothing against them per se, but the script should demand it. In fact, when I suggested a song before interval in ‘Samanthakamani’ to play it safe, but producer negated the idea as he believed that ‘gripping narrative’ is more than enough to engage the audience and it turned out to be very true.

You extracted good performances from lead actors?
I am glad that four heroes understood that it was more of a performance-driven roles, away from their hero-centric roles. They slipped in the skin of thee characters with consummate ease and delivered scintillating performances.