Location: Ramoji Film City
Interviewed by: Hemanth
S S Rajamouli is on cloud 9 after the stupendous success of “Magadheera”.The film has been declared an Industry hit and it still rules the box office even after 50 days of its release. He talks about his films, future projects and his dream to make a full fledged mythological film in this candid chit chat…

Rajamouli garu… Congratulations on the huge success of “Magadheera”. The film has recently completed its 50 day run. How are you enjoying the success?
50 days is something which I don’t give much importance to. For many years now we have been celebrating 50 days, 100 days functions with great fervour, which really doesn’t matter. So I thought I would distance myself from this 50-100 days long back. I am not at all involved in that. But I am obviously very very happy with the film doing so well even after so many days.
Your film has also been released in other states like Gujarat,West bengal nd also in 12 other countries. What is the kind of response you have been getting from these places?
I don’t really know about the response from these places.

What do you think are the reasons behind this overwhelming success? In spite of new releases, it’s still ruling the box office…
I was thinking about t for so long about it. I mean, none of us were expecting such a big success. I was trying to analyse, thinking about why it’s such a big success. Maybe people have seen what they have never seen on screen before. I think that’s the reason why people are coming back again and again, but I am not sure.

If given a chance, would you like to change anything in the movie? Maybe people will watch the film again to understand your point of view.
There are so many things which I want to change about the movie. Why will people watch it because I found something wrong in the movie? (laughs)…. I don’t know…there are so many things. It’s not that I would want to remove an entire scene. Probably I would have put more pain in the hero’s character in the flashback.

We have also heard that there are plans of remaking the film in Tamil and Hindi. Is that true?
It’s all just in very early planning stages. Nothing concrete has been decided about it. I don’t know, probably I will do it if time permits. As of now I have some commitments, if the proposed project is after that probably I will look at it.
Your wife, Rama Rajamouli has been contributing a lot to your films. Will we see her as a director sometime soon?
No. She isn’t, luckily… (smiles).
One thing which we have observed is, a lot of your movies have a specific formula with a very intense flashback. Is that intentional?
That is probably the only way I know how to make movies. Other than that there’s nothing intentional about it.
With “Magadheera” you have ventured into “Romance” genre, which probably wasn’t the main theme in your previous movies. What other genres would you like to try?
It’s not that I want to try a specific genre. I don’t make a movie to try out some genre. If I find a story that is interesting I will make it. And most of the time, it’s a high voltage action entertainer. Luckily in this film, it was a romance based story. It wasn’t an intentional choice. You had once quoted that you first choose a hero and then write a script. Is there someone whom you would like to work with?
Not really. Basically why I go for stars is, they have bigger budgets which allows me to make bigger movies. I don’t have any preference as such.
You have been in the film industry for quite a long time now. Whom do you consider to be your major influence as a director?
I don’t know. None of the directors either contemporary, or seniors or from other film industries have had an influence on me. I like some directors, but that doesn’t mean that I like all their movies. It’s the movies that influence me, Braveheart for instance.
Nowadays there are quite a few youngsters making their debut in Tollywood. What would be your advice to them?
I never give advices to anyone.
Tell us about your new projects?
I am starting a new film with Sunil. The shooting for this new film will start next month. And after that I think it will be with Prabhas.
We have seen some really extravagant episodes in films like “Yamadonga” and “Magadheera” which had a fantasy, mythology concept. Can we expect a full fledged film with a mythology backdrop from you?
Yeah. That is the whole intention. My dream is to make a full fledged pauranikam, janapadam, folklore or mythological films.
What are the constraints that challenge you from making a pauranikam..?
Budget constraints. If 4 reels of Magadheera becomes the highest budgeted film, how can I make a 16 reel film within the same budget? That is a code which I have to crack and I think I will crack it soon.