‘I Went Into Borderline Depression’
Ahead of the release of ‘Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene’ on July 12, Sundeep Kishan talks about the movie, what makes it so different, why it’s not a regular horror flick, why he turned into a producer and more. Excerpts from a candid conversation.
Did you do the movie only because of the genre?
Honestly, I never wanted to do a horror film. I enjoy watching horror movies but I used to feel that an actor wouldn’t have much scope to act in the genre. Even when the genre had a boom period, I stayed away from it. But when director Caarthick Raaju narrated the script, I felt the film goes beyond horror. It’s more emotional and I wanted the audience to experience it. The film flips between future and present. The story is partly set in 2043.
You have described it as a multi-genre film. What makes ‘NVNN’ different from others?
Horror is a universal genre that can be enjoyed by all sections of audience. There have been novel films in the genre – like ‘Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada’, ‘Gruham’, ‘Prema Katha Chitram’. As I said, my film is more than just horror. The audience will not say that ‘NVNN’ is just a horror film after watching it.
What about humour quotient?
There definitely is comedy in the film but it’s not there for the sake of it. The audience will enjoy the entertainment quotient in the film. Posani Krishna Murali garu’s character is extraordinary.
The visuals in the trailer and the songs are really good. Tell us about that.
The technicians, like SS Thaman (music director), were chosen keeping the genre in mind. I must say that the film is high on technical finesse. The singles released so far have become hits. There is a single which hasn’t been released to make sure the story doesn’t get revealed. You will enjoy it in the movie. As I said, the film shows how the future is going to be 20 years or so from now. It’s been imaginatively done.
What made you turn a producer?
As everyone knows, I haven’t had a hit in the last two years. Three of my films flopped and every time I could discover what went wrong only after they were made. I can’t blame anybody for my choices. I have turned a producer to take charge of things. Even promotions of ‘NVNN’ have been carried out in a novel way. We started with posters in washrooms. As a producer, I have the freedom to do things the way I want. When I am not a producer, it’s not my money and I wouldn’t have much freedom. My producer needn’t believe in what I believe in. If an actor insists, it will be called interference. Most of the times I made conscious, careful decisions, they have worked for me.
How confident are you about the success of ‘NVNN’?
We are totally confident that the film will do well. If I am saying the film is very very good, the audience might say it’s very good or good. They won’t say it’s bad. That much we are sure right now. We have successfully sold the film across all territories. Anil Sunkara garu is presenting the movie.
Some big names have bought the Hindi remake rights of ‘NVNN’. They liked it instantly. Actually, they don’t get pleased so easily. If they are stunned by our film, you can imagine. I don’t want to reveal their names now. I can proudly say that this is the best film in my career.
It seems you are going all out to promote the film. Isn’t it?
We are spending everything that we earned as a pre-release profit in promoting the film. We have held test audience screenings as well. We have taken care of all aspects. The trailer has shown the screenplay of the film. There is more to the film, as it includes multiple elements. Those who have loved the trailer will love the film even more.
Your director has made it to this stage after much wait. Tell us about him.
The film should work for my director as well as the heroine (Anya Singh). My director had left a lucrative job years ago to chase his dreams. My heroine was through difficulties in her personal life for two years. They deserve all success.
How have you seen your failures in recent years?
I almost went into borderline depression. I travelled to the US to get rid of it. I don’t discuss my professional matters with my family. The one person with whom I share things is my sister, who works for Euros. She is highly talented. After returning from the US, ‘NVNN’ was selected after listening to more than 30 stories. I believe that you have to create your own opportunities.
When ‘Sneha Geetham’ and ‘Prasthanam’ came, nobody knew Sundeep Kishan. I have since gone on to do films in three languages. I want to achieve more. I want to do bigger films, films bigger in terms of premise, visuals, scale and canvas, not budget. I have scored well in Tamil and Hindi but not that well in Telugu. It’s like losing on the home ground.
What about your stint with digital media?
I have done a pucca action-driven role for Amazon. Raj-DK have directed it. Titled ‘The Family Man’, it’s a high-budget action thriller.
How is your restaurant business going?
I established the restaurant for financial security for my parents and sister. I have done 12 films for free in my career. That’s why I need to always have financial backing for my family. I have to give back to my parents. My restaurant is doing well and I am happy.
What next immediately after ‘NVNN’?
‘Tenali Ramakrishna BA BL’ is a humorous film, whose story has been adapted by G Nageshwar Reddy garu. It’s a complete genre shift from ‘NVNN’ for me.
Pic Talk: Deepika Turns Quite Spicy For Jewellery
Not many heroines turned so hot post tying the nuptials, but the likes of Kareena, Deepika and Samantha are surely breaking the cliched ideas. They are giving a feel that hotness has nothing to do with marriage and their recent pictures are a testimony of that.
Here comes the latest campaign of a noted jewellery campaign features star heroine Deepika Padukone in a saucy avatar, where her jaw-dropping cleavage show in deep neck outfits is grabbing eyeballs. And that coming from a married lady is something like a shocker for many. But we have to say that Mrs Ranvir Singh is quite gorgeous and making men jealous of her husband.
However, this noted brand never comes up with such raunchy ad campaigns for their products, and their present work with Deepika became the talk of the town for the same. Well, its all about attention grabbing and Deepika knows how to do that.
Horror Film, All The Charms And Sympathy Factor
The film business is all about making an interesting film, promoting it to the core and reaping benefits at the box office by carefully planning the timing of the release. We have to say that the young hero is ticking all the boxes right, but there comes this sympathy factor that is playing in his favour.
Sandeep Kishan is long absent from films, almost for two years, as the actor explained that he got into depression and was confused picking up the right project. But he has finally come up with Ninu Veedani Needanu Nenu and the film’s trailer did all the magic. Naturally, Telugu audiences love horror comedies and any bit of newness into them will be a winner.
At the same time, Sandeep is doing amazing promotions for the film barring some cheap tricks like a bike-theft video, the likes of scary posters in bathrooms, a pre-release event that will see a horde of young and happening heroes as guests, and other regular activities. This will surely help #NVNN get the desired attention.
Then we have a sympathy factor chipping in for the hero, as many feel that he needs at least one big hit for the kind of hard work he’s putting in. Even if the film is above average, the sympathy factor will sure make things work. As the film hits cinemas on July 12th, let’s see what happens.
Samantha’s Trollers Are Having A Feast
It has been two days since Samantha commented that liking a film as a story (Arjun Reddy here) and disliking the comments made by Sandeep Reddy Vanga (violence is also a form of expressing love) are two different things. The thing is that trollers are having a feast as Samantha shared this opinion.
Earlier after someone pointed out that she is following double standards by liking Arjun Reddy but criticising Kabir Singh, the actress gave clarity like above. However, trollers are quick to point out what kinds of things Samantha has said in media and what she has done on the screen.
In Rangasthalam movie, Samantha gets slapped by Ram Charan and some netizens expressed how come she supported toxic masculinity back then. They shared screenshots of that particular scene as well. Then comes her interview to JFW magazine where she answered the question, ‘food or sex?’, by saying, ‘Sex, because I can starve anytime’.
And the trollers say- if Samantha has the freedom of saying that sex is her priority, won’t Sandeep Reddy have the freedom of hitting someone who is in love with? It’s a personal choice, few felt (which is not anyway).
Some others shared the images of Samantha from Oh Baby pre-release event where she flaunted her glamour big time and pointed out, “If you could wear whatever you like despite being a married man, why can’t Sandeep Reddy say and film what he likes?”.
An online poll conducted by a website has seen 70% of the people supporting Sandeep Reddy Vanga over his violent love his comments.
Many feel that Samantha, being a star heroine, shouldn’t have invested her time into this controversy, as that is spoiling more of her image.
Sandeep And Co. Tries Cheap Trick To Get Attention
To promote a film, these days makers are going to any extent. Recently a Tamil film starlet has released a Facebook video where she complained that her husband is ill-treating her every day. Later it was revealed that actually, she made that video to promote her latest movie, where she plays the role of a wife who is getting domestically abused.
And now, comedian Priyadarshi stunned everyone by releasing a video of his bike being stolen by a guy wearing a mask. As twitterati shared that multiple times, Hyderabad Police responded to that officially, asking him to share the location of the happening. Then came Sandeep Kishan into the picture, revealing the truth.
“Sorry this got more serious than we expected..it’s a fun promotional campaign that we are doing for #NinuVeedaniNeedaniNene. As we dint get Priyadarshi’s dates..we had his bike make a special appearance in our film”, he tweeted in reply to Priyadarshi’s tweet, as many journalists also kept asking the comedian if he has filed a complaint or not.
The moment this hero shared the truth, netizens blasted the team for such cheap promotions as there many guys out there who lost their bikes and they know the pain of losing one. Score a hit by delivering a film with better content, but not with cheap tricks, opined many.
Buzz: Is Allu Arvind’s Idea Viable?
Already long back Allu Arvind’s compound has given a feeler about the multi-crore budgeted Ramayana they are making and even hinted that Ram Charan might play the role of Lord Rama in that. Yesterday, they have hiked the budget, got two directors aboard and gave another announcement regarding the same film.
Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari and the 1500 odd crores budget sound very lavish and confident, but for films of such scale to work, there is something else that is to be taken care of. The two aspects that will save this three-part series at the box office is, either the star faces that sizzle in the movie or the stunning visual effects.
Let’s hope Charan plays Rama, then the ones who play villain Ravana, brother Lakshmana, disciple Hanuma, wife Sita- and all other characters should be played by leading stars. Someone like Akshay Kumar or Salman should play Ravana, and other big stars should take up the rest of the roles. Then only, the film will get superior hype across India.
Or else, the film should have visual effects on the scale of Avatar, where live-action gets seamlessly mixed with computer generated imagery. For example, if the scene of Hanuma and his apes building a stone bridge over Indian ocean could get real and thrilling like in Avatar, Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, then audiences will go crazy about it, no matter which actor is playing lead role.
Only if one of these two, or the two aspects work out, then the idea of making this Ramayana will be a feasible one. We have to see what Allu Arvind will say about it.
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