21 June 2022
Hyderabad
In an exclusive interview with idlebrain.com, MS Raju spoke about the confidence Dirty Hari gave him, his take on recently-released positively-rated films failing to set the domestic box-office on fire, equating his film, 7 Days 6 Nights, to a t-20 match and planning a huge budget flick to be made in 14 languages
With Dirty Hari, MS Raju, once dubbed as the Subhash Ghai of Telugu cinema, has bounced back and in the process reinvented himself. Prior to Dirty Hari, his two directorial efforts—Vaana and Tuneega Tuneega— had come a cropper at the box-office, pushing him to the wall. The success of Dirty Hari has given Raju a shot in the arm to delve into deeper waters as far as genres are concerned. “It has given me the confidence to try out films the industry hasn’t explored before. I have seven stories ready now and each one of them differs from the other. I will not do films that everybody is doing. I want to associate with at least two-three films a year as a director,” Raju declares to us, admitting that he has learnt his lessons. “We are bound to make mistakes as we are humans. If we commit mistakes, we get flops. At this juncture of my career and in view of my experience, I should not repeat mistakes. Definitely, mistakes teach you what not to do.”
Raju is right now looking forward to the release of his latest directorial, 7 Days 6 Nights, which unspools this Friday. It features Sumanth Ashwin, Meher Chahal, Rohan and Kritika Shetty in the lead roles. “It’s a story about two guys who go on a bachelor trip to. It starts in Hyderabad, unfolds in Goa and once again comes back to Hyderabad. It’s a fun film, with one guy being a good guy and the other being a total flirt. It is inspired by Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat, which starred him and Premnath. I’ve just taken the lead characters and penned a new story,” the writer-director points out.
As a part of research, Raju adds that he went to Goa and observed a lot of youngsters on how they behaved and spoke. “I felt 7 Days 6 Nights is the most appropriate story now. I also felt given the times only youth can loosen their purse strings to watch films, so I started this one,” he notes.
In the aughts, Raju’s productions like Okkadu, Varsham and Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana took more than 100 days to be wrapped up but he completed 7 Days 6 Nights in under 50 days. Speaking about the transformation, he comments, “I was taking a lot of time before but since I have restraints in terms of budget now, I had to do proper planning. I ensured that the actors and technicians of the project read the script thoroughly before joining the sets, so that they know what they are doing. Even though some conditions were beyond our control—like the pandemic and the weather in Goa —we managed to complete the film in less than 50 days.”
The theatre going audience has declined after the pandemic, with audiences favoring only big-star vehicles. Even films like Ante Sundaraniki and Virata Parvam, which received positive reviews failed to light up the domestic box-office. Raju, who has a wealth of experience in the industry, concedes that the present situation is a “cause of concern for sure” but he has a word of advice. “If you want to do experimental cinema, do it on a certain budget. If you spend on it like you spend on a commercial film, the returns will be poor. If you are aware that your film will not reach audiences of different categories, then it should be made on a budget. Also, the ticket prices should come down,” he observes.
Continuing in the same vein, he goes on, “The prices of essential commodities have increased. They are necessary for day-to-day life, so people have to purchase them, whereas entertainment is not. People can always watch films at a later time on OTT platforms. They come to theatres only to enjoy. So if you keep on hiking the ticket prices, the trade will take a beating. I told all my distributors and exhibitors to keep the ticket prices of my film nominal.”
Raju believes that times are such that “no one knows which film will get an opening”. “It is like the audiences are interested in something else. With 7 Days 6 Nights we are trying to catch their minds or at least get closer to them. If youth can connect with the promotional material, it will result in good openings. Take for instance films like Jathi Ratnalu and DJ Tillu. Which is why, we are trying to pull the audience, especially youth with some interesting promotional campaigns,” he states.
As his film’s story transpires in 7 days, Raju equates it to that of a t-20 match, finishing rather quickly without boring the audience whilst promising entertainment. “In terms of running time, it will be like Aamir Khan’s Delhi Belly (1 hour 45 minutes). It didn’t have an interval but I didn’t dare to do it away because of canteen issues,” he points out.
Raju has been associated with producing and writing some of the most memorable films of Telugu cinema like Devi, Manasantha Nuvve, Okkadu, Varsham and Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana. While most of them have met conclusions, he is keen on continuing one story forward from his past rich oeuvre. “There is one story which will kick off in October. It will be a huge budget film to be made in 14 languages. It might be a sequel… I’m just taking the format and characters from the film and doing it. I will be producing it under Sumanth Arts Productions along with someone else,” he reveals, while not disclosing the title.
For now, Raju wants to work for himself. An accomplished writer, he penned the stories of Manasantha Nuvve, Nee Sneham, Pournami and Aata, but he is not in a mood to give stories to others. “I don’t want to work with someone else. I want to write for myself. Writing is a heavy job and if we are telling something to someone, he might not like it but the audience might. They might ask me to change this and that. I don’t want that. More than money, I want to do what my heart says,” he signs off.
-NAGARAJ GOUD.
