Stars : Star Interviews : Surender Reddy about Oosaravelli

Though he made his name with his maiden movie ( Atankokkade ) itself, director Surender Reddy strengthened his position with the blockbuster, Kick (2009). His recent film, Oosaravelli , starring NTR in the lead role opened to good openings and mixed responses. As the film is running second week successfully, he informs us that he might direct it in Hindi as talks are on for a remake.

Are you satisfied with the outcome of Oosaravelli?

Totally. I consider the movie the best in my career. And openings are terrific and it is still running successfully. I give the credit to Tarak (NTR). No actor with such a mass hero image would accept to do this kind of movie where in he doesn't appear for 15 minutes in the second half and heroine takes the lead. But when we (story writer Vakkantam and I) finished the narration of the story, he put only one condition - not to deviate from the story. He wanted to be presented in different manner and I did it successfully.

Agreed that the movie got good openings but it received mixed response.

Most of the big movies get divided talk on the first day and later bad talk subsides. It happened the same with Oosaravelli.

Fans complain that there are not enough scenes to elevate heroism. Your comment?

When a helpless girl (played by Tamannah) prays in front of the Lord Hanuman to show her a savior, suddenly she gets to see that a guy behind her bashing off goons and finds her hero in him. Was not that elevated hero's image? But again, NTR's role in the movie is designed in that manner; we consciously avoided including unnecessary scenes of heroism. You know what the compliments that I received from my other colleagues' center around this balancing act that I did. They appreciated for incorporating comedy in an action movie and presenting NTR in this way.

But NTR's hairstyle and his look received severe criticism.

Fans in fact told me that NTR looked superb. May be, 1% of people are not satisfied with the look.

You gave Tamanna her career best role. How did you select for this role?

In all my films, female protagonists have better characters. Even in an entertainer like Kick, Ileana has solid role. We began story with heroine's role and expanded from there, and I envisioned that Tamannah would look good in short haircut that she did in the movie. That was the reason for taking her in and she gave her best performance.

A part of the movie is copied from Hong Kong film, Vengeance!

It is not copy. We just took a small portion from that Hong Kong film. I may get inspiration from other films - from their soul, or a small bit of dialogue but never copy them.

What was the response from NTR?

He is extremely happy with the film.. He was accepted in family-romance oriented movie like Brindavanam, so he is happy that Oosaravelli has portrayed in him more different character. He is trying to satisfy all sections of audiences, this movie definitely is a big boost for him .

You are known for you stylized direction. Why do you give so much importance to style?

I always try to make movies with high technical value - to effectively narrate the story and also attract the audiences who are well exposed to Hollywood movies. My desire is that even a non-Telugu speaking audience should appreciate our Telugu films that is why I give importance to style and technique which will attract more audiences.

Which genre of movies you personally like to make?

I love doing comedy but again I don't want to be typecast. Initially I made revenge dramas and people thought I am adept at action-oriented movies only, so then I made Kick which is full of comedy. Now, I made a step further with Oosaravelli which has right balance of action and romance. Also most people appreciated me for generating comedy though regular comedians like Brahmanandam not being there in the movie. Today I feel proud that I am one of the few directors in Tollywood who are good at both comedy and action. Only Puri and Vinayak achieved this.

You assisted the director- producer Kranthi Kumar. Will you make message-oriented films like your guru?

He’s great director and he's in different league. I don’t think I can do such movies but I like him I am making movies that have strong female lead characters.

Do you have any dream projects?

I can't term it a dream project, but I am dying to make a superhero movie (like Superman, Batman) in Telugu.

Any plans of Bollywood?

When they bought remake rights of my Kick into Hindi, they planned with another director. But after some months, they called on me and requested me to direct it in Hindi but by then I started off Oosaravelli with NTR, so I refused. If they ask me now, I will start it off immediately. Also, a couple of producers who saw Oosaravelli are working on remaking it in Hindi with me. Going to Bollywood is actually my dream.

Next commitments?

As of now, I have signed R R Moviemakers' next film. I can only able to tell you who would act in the movie.

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