Director Venkat Kuchipudi
Director Venkat Kuchipudi who had a not so good start with the critically appreciated Modati Cinema, starring Navadeep and Poonam, that was fell cold at the box office. But for his second film he managed to rope in the beautiful Simran to star opposite writer turned comedian Krishna Bhagwan for the latter’s first film as a leading man, John Apparao 40+. With the film ready for release on the 20th of this month Venkat Kuchipudi talks about his latest directorial venture.

Q: How was it to work with Krishna Bhagwan? He is said to work on his own terms and conditions. Did he make any changes in the scenes as it is rumored that he did?

A: Like you said Krishna Bhagwan is an actor who works on his own terms. He cannot be hurried and does not like to work at night. But he made an exception for this film and worked through the nights too. As for the scene changing bit, he sometimes does change particular lines according to the other actors’ responses but that too on very rare occasions. In this film, you will get to see Krishna Bhagwan at the receiving end of all the satires, unlike his earlier movies.

Q: Is it true that you had problems with Simran during the film’s making?

A: Where don’t you have problems? There were some problems in between. But I am happy that the end result of the film was good and that is all that matters. I am happy with Simran’s work.

Q: There was news doing the round that you had approached Hindi actresses Mallika Sherawat and Mandira Bedi. What happened?

A: Yes. We did approach Mallika Sherawat and Mandira Bedi. I had discussed about the film with Mallika via email but later on due to budget issues we dropped her. With Manidra Bedi, after listening to the subject she agreed to do it and we announced her name as part of our cast. But there were date clashes and we had to drop her also. We even approached Tabu but there also things did not work out. Finally we spoke to Simran and she agreed to work as soon as we narrated the story to her. Things finally fell into place. And I am glad about it.

Q: Why did you opt for remix songs for John Apparao 40+?

A: With Krishna Bhagwan as hero, original songs and duets would take time to become known to a universal audience. And I also believe that more and more importance is being given to the film’s screenplay now days, film songs just might become a thing of the past. These days it is not really working out with songs in films.

Q: Then why the songs in this film?

A: In this film you will not feel as if the songs are out of place. In fact the on screen time of the songs is much shorter than the audio time and so people will feel that the songs got over much faster. That way the songs do not feel out of place and at the same time will not bore you.

Q: Did you take the music directors’ permission for the remixed songs?

A: I know that it is bad but no one is taking permission or buying rights. As far as I know except for A.R. Rahman and Ilayaraja no other music director is completely under the copyrights act. Even Satyam garu used the original sound track of Kannada music directors Rajan-Nagendra for the song “O bangaru rangula chilakaa” in Thota Ramudu. He might have taken permission but nobody knows for a fact. It goes on. I know it is bad, but that is how things are going on till date.

Q: Speaking about songs, is it true that you used a crane to shoot a song in Bangkok?

A: Oh that is a big story. When we were shooting for the song “ Meghaalalo Thelipomannadi” Krishna Bhagwan and Ruthika met with a bike accident and Ruthika had her hand fractured and got eight stitches on her leg. Despite that Ruthika, being a very professional artist, agreed to shoot for the song the very next day. So I had to opt for the RIG (a unique camera moving equipment). I should appreciate Ruthika for being a thorough professional.

Q: Why did you change the cameramen during the film’s shoot?
A: We had different working styles. Simran introduced the first cameraman to us. He was very good at his job and worked with Ram Gopal Verma and Mammooty earlier. But he took longer time to set the lights and other things. We also faced a language problem as he could speak only Malayalam and English and my assistants spoke only Telugu. Things did not work out between us and that was when we opted for Gopi. Then on everything went on smoothly.

Q: You used two different films for this movie. Won’t the audience make out the difference?

A: No. I used Digital Intermediate and that takes care of it. Unless and until I tell the difference in the films, the audiences will not know. We used the Super 35 to shoot songs at different angles and the Super 16 for the rest of the film.

Q: This is Naveen’s (Actor Naresh’s son) first major editing job?

A: Yes. He has done a wonderful job. Though he did not work for any film so far he knows his work well. He used the avid editor which helps to check the results almost immediately. I am sure that Naveen will reach great heights in his career.

Q: You are a person with a good knowledge of international films. Would you want to make films like international film makers Samira Makhmalbaf, Jafar Panahi and Majid Majidi?

A: I need to earn money before I can make the kind of films that I want to. I have already suffered a setback with my first film. I want to recover the losses with this film. If I succeed then I can experiment with my kind of films in the coming years. I hope that that dream will come true real soon.