Star Interviews
Interview with Sureshkrissna
By Sri
Mar 11, 2009 - 4:58:59 AM

Suresh Krissna is one director who directed films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi (He even supervised the direction of a Kannada film recently.), thus holding the credit for a rare feat as a film director. As his latest film Mesthri is gearing up for release, I tried to get in touch with him in his residence at Chennai, but I learnt he was shuttling between Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore. Luckily, I caught hold of him in Hyderabad with the help of a friend and spoke to him for a brief interview, exclusively presented to TeluguCinema.Com readers:

Sri: Tell me about your background.
Suresh Krissna: I am originally from Mumbai. My parents belong to Palghat, Kerala and my mother tongue is Tamil. Due to all this varied background, I knew Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam even before coming to filmdom. After coming into films, I became fluent in Telugu too. I learnt Kannada when we were doing plays ...and an assistant of mine is now doing a Kannada film for which I am providing the story, screenplay, and also direction supervision; I couldn't direct the film myself completely as I was busy with Mesthri and a Tamil film. ...I did my schooling from General Education Academy, Chembur, Mumbai. I then completed my B.Com (Hons.) from University of Bombay, but I didn't know what to do next. I did not want to be a Charted Accountant like my brother and wanted to do something different. At that time, one of my friends, Mr. K.R. Parmeshwar by name, offered me to assist him in the stage plays he directed. I worked with him back-stage for various plays in Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, and Gujarati while also doing a diploma course in Natya Academy affiliated to UNESCO Paris learning theater. I got a job as an accountant in Sri L.V. Prasad's distribution office at Mumbai at that time, and I worked there for a year as an Accountant. When Dasari gaaru was doing the film Yah Kaise Insaaf (Hindi version of Idekkadi Nyaayam?), I jumped in to assist him as they needed someone fluent in both Tamil and Hindi. That was my first brush with film directon.

After that, L.V. gaaru got the rights of Maro Charitra and I joined K. Balachander gaaru as an assistant for that film and I continued to work with him for the next seven years. Some of the notable films I worked under him are Ek Duje Ke Liye, Sindhu Bhairavi, Acchammillai Acchammillai, Punnagai Mannan, Agni Saatchi, Zaraa Si Zindagi, Kokilamma, Sundara Swapnagalu, Kalyana Agathigal, Rudraveena, and more. As you know, Kamal worked with K.Balachander sir for many films and he knew me well too, and thus offered me Satya a remake of Arjun. I did that film and it became a good hit.

Sri: Satya was a remake but I think you did your own verson of it without repeating the original version frame to frame. Yeah, coming to your working with Kamal, you did three films with him - Satya, Indrudu-Chandrudu and Abhay, the first two being hits and the latter a flop. It's rumored that Kamal interferes a lot in direction. Comment please?
Suresh Krissna: Yeah, for Satya we took only basic theme from the original and worked on it. ...Abhay flopped as far as business matters but, to me, it's always a special film because Kamal did a fantasistic job as usual. It is technically one of the best films in Indian cinema and had a script concept that was way ahead of its time! Many a time, over-expectations cause disappointment. To be honest, Kamal interfering with direction is not at all true! It all depends on which way of the coin you look at. He's definitely more experienced than any of us. If he feels something can be done better, he suggests that to the director. Though he is such a great actor and director, he works on the sets like an assistant director even today helping people.

K,Balachandar and Sureshkrissna

Sri: How did you manage tummy shots of Kamal in Indrudu-Chandrudu for the role of Mayor Rayudu where does he gets a massage from the character Veena. The tummy looked so real then!
Suresh Krissna: The credit should go to the cameraman P.S. Prakash who did the job so brilliantly. We used mask shots for that scene as we did not have graphics or other such technical resources back then.

Sri: You worked for three films on Suresh banner (Prema, Indrudu-Chandrudu, Dharma Chakram), and Venkatesh won the Nandi Award for Best Male Actor for both the films you directed him (Prema, Dharma Chakram).But then, why is there no film after that?
Suresh Krissna: There isn't any problem really, but the right kind of script didn't come our way to do another film. If we do a third film together, people would expect a lot out of it. Venky and Ramanaidu gaaru always wanted to do another film if I have a good script that suits Venkatesh. When I met Ramanaidu gaaru last week at the audio release of Mesthri too, he was saying that we should be work together for a good film. ...This is what's happening with Kamal or Rajini sir too, in fact!

Sri: Speaking of Rajini, you did three films with him - Annamalai, Basha, and Baba. Again, the former two were super hits, and the latter was a disaster! What went wrong with Baba, which I see as a good film that was close to Rajini's real-life personality?
Suresh Krissna: First thing I'd want to clarify is that Baba was a not disaster but was a super hit film! The film was made under 10 crores and collected between 25-30 crores. At that time, the government permitted raising the ticket rates during the initial days of film's release, and the tickets went up rates as high as Rs. 500/- to Rs. 2000/- in most areas! The film collected more than the complete run of Annamalai in just three weeks because of this! Also, it opened with maximum number of prints. The reason people say it was a disaster because they over-expected the run and bought the film at a very high price. When they didn't get that much money, they said it's a flop, though it wasn't. As you said, Baba was a good film with story and screenplay by Rajini and is thus definetly close to his heart.

Sri: And, Basha was a free-make of Amitabh's Hum! I also heard that the film was plannd to have a linear narration first but that Rajinikant and fight master Vijayan suggested that the flashback episode should come later. Is that true?
Suresh Krissna: I agree that Basha had shades of Hum, and that the film was definetly inspired by Hum but had a completely different treatment. Basha went on to become such a huge success that every hero wanted to do a clone of it, and that trend is still continuing even now! Rajini and Vijayan suggesting the flashback episode is not true. The film's basic plot starts with Rajini going to get a seat in the Medical College for his sister. From there on, the film tempo starts off and that was how we planned it originally too.

Suresh krissna at recording of Satya with Kamal and Illayaraja

Sri: Why do you take such long gaps between your films?
Suresh Krissna: I usually prefer to take a break after each film. I work in various languages - Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, and now in Kannada too - and thus, in each language, it looks like I take a really long gap while I am actually not.

Sri: You did with top stars like Rajini, Kamal, Mohanlal, and Chiranjeevi in South India, but it seems like you didn't concentrate so much in Bollywood. Given a chance, who do you like to work with in Hindi?
Suresh Krissna: I did three Hindi films and each one took more than a year to complete. Thus, I am not really comfortable working in Hindi, but if I get a chance, I'll definetly like to do a film with Amit-ji - it will be a dream come true for me! Whenever I am directing a top star, I think about Amitabh-ji in my mind. Rajini and Kamal always tease me on this!

Sri: Coming to your current film Mesthri, how did you feel while directing the Guinness record-holder director-actor Dasari Narayana Rao gaaru? As the producer and story-writer of the film too, what's his level of interference or involvement in the film's shoot?
Suresh Krissna: He never interfered at all, and in fact, he left all that to me. He gave me complete freedom at hand as he very well knew how I worked. He once said in a meeting too that I did Baba and Aahaa! simultaneously, though both films had a lot different variations and entirely different subjects!...

Sri: How did you make Dasari gaaru lose weight?
Suresh Krissna: I have nothing do with it! He had a gall bladder problem and went through an operation and followed a strict diet, which made him lose around 20 kg...

Sri: Dasari gaaru and you say that the film's plot is not based in politics, but when I listened to the songs, they were full of political statements...!
Suresh Krissna: That there's a touch of poltics in the film is true. It's only a part of the subject and is not the whole subject by itself! The film is a journey of a man who sees politics in his life as we do but not a complete life full of politics.

Sri: Your sister Shanti Krissnan was a popular herione in Tamil and Malayalam in the early '80s. Where is she now?
Suresh Krissna: She is settled in the USA after she married Mr. Bajore, a big businessman. She was a very popular Bharatanatyam dancer too at that time, having given about 500 dance performances worldwide.

Sri: What do you feel as the important element of a film?
Suresh Krissna: What else but the script! It is the heart and soul of any film, I believe.

Sri: What are your plans next?
Suresh Krissna: My Tamil film with Bharat and Priyamani in the lead releases in April, and the Kannada film would release in May. I have not yet decided what language I'd work after that and what film. I will take a short break and work again, I believe.

Interview: Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi