“Time is temporary but a film is forever” I think this quote came out because I don’t have a release for a while now.

Before ‘Leader’, I always said that I wanted to do an alternative film that follows a mainstream hero’s journey; ‘Leader’ was just that. I had a few reservations on the second half of the film and how the love story would play out eventually. As much as I loved the idea of the protagonist cheating a girl for the well being of the people, I just had a different view on how it could develop given the screen time of the film. I voiced it out, but being my first film, it didn’t matter to most. Not complaining at all, because I got all I wanted from the film, because Sekhar helped bring out my personality on screen in the most unique way possible, while the rest were hell bent on making me into an action hero.

So I finished Debut 1 – a Telugu film, which had a reasonably good reception both at the BO and with the critics. Then Debut 2 in Hindi ‘Dum Maro Dum’ came as a pleasant surprise to me, because after a Telugu film I was looking for a larger Telugu film or a bi-lingual (Telugu-Tamil) film ideally. So, in a way God blessed me with extra love and gave me a speedy second film in Hindi.

Then came the monstrous task of choosing the next script. Lots of script readings, lots more narrations, many stories waiting to be told some even went up to the 5th and 6th drafts and then got adrift in the script development process. Heard stories from almost everyone – top directors and writers to young and upcoming ones. Working with so many diverse kinds of people, I had lots of questions that I was unable to voice plainly. Similarly they had a lot of questions to ask of me “Who is he to ask us to change? What does he know? He’s only one film old… little more graciously though.I know I’m one film old and I don’t have the right, but surely do have the capability and understanding in terms of story development, screenplay structure, character graphs, that I’ve been learning for years now.

Key issue with most storytellers today is that many of them don’t write start to end,they start shooting before they have a full bound script; they work with shooting drafts or ideas and concepts and find the film in the process of making it. Works very well for them, but not for me.

I’d like to know what I’m getting into quite clearly and right from the beginning. Whether it works or not, if it works it’s great and if it doesn’t I clearly understand the mistakes I shouldn’t make in my next. That eliminates quite a few filmmakers from me.I first and foremost want a genre film. I fail to understand the term “Mass, Action,Love Story with Entertainment.”

I think, I can only handle one and maybe two of the above at a time. I often keep wondering where is the real cinema I grew up watching,I can’t find a ‘Pathala Bhairavi’, a ‘Gundamma Katha’ or a ‘Danaveerasura Karna’ an ‘Alluri Sitaramaraju’, a ‘Shiva’, a ‘Swati Muthyam’ today. The only thing that excites me in Telugu cinema today is to see the success of a variety of genres with films like ‘Arundhati’, ‘Yae Maya Chesavae’ and ‘Leader’ all being genre specific films and did commercially well at the BO. To me it’s fairly straight and simple – is the film engaging or is it not, do I have fun reading it, will I have fun doing it and finally will I have fun watching it. If I truly like it, I know they are a lot out there who’ll like it as well.

And another interesting challenge these days, which was never the case in Telugucinema, is the casting. Problem one, we have a very limited number of girls to work with who speak Telugu, second I am 6ft 3inches which means the girl atleast has to be 5’6 and above to make a good screen pair (Please don’t give me examples of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, they make a fab pair but I’m not Mr. Big B). And from the natural choices of that are available there is Kajal, Genelia,Tamanna, Ileana, Richa, Samantha and others who fit my screen age but, their dates aren’t available till late this year or almost Jan next year simply because of the number of films they’re working in. Very happy for them but it’s not good for me.So hence planning a film schedule around these dates is almost next to impossible.

Another mammoth task is the budget that comes into play with me as the lead, there’s a clear limit to my budgets – my first was ‘Leader’ not ‘Magadheera’. And each story has a limitation for the genre it’s belongs; for example an action film can pull larger audiences than a simple comedy, a family drama can bring in more audiences than a thriller. And being a producer myself, more so coming from a production family, I’d like all; Producers, Buyers, Distributors and Exhibitors to reap benefits from myfilms.

Being born in Chennai and brought up in Hyderabad, I grew up speaking Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. So I am blessed in a way to venture out into cinema in different languages. And try to eventually grow to a sizeable market, to create all the stories I can, and with lesser financial constraints. Am working on it, let’s see how it goes. Since time is temporary but a film is forever, I want people to remember me in a film that I’m proud to have been a part of.

Nearly100 DVD’s of the Rana’s latest blockbuster ‘Leader’ film were seized at various places in Hyderabad.  This is a classic example to prove that piracy is at its heights. On the third day after the release of the film in theaters pirated DVDs of the films are being sold on the streets. This is the time to open our eyes and react strongly against piracy. Piracy is everywhere and so are pirates.

You see them everywhere. On your way to school at the sidewalks. At shopping malls. IRailway stations, bus stops, trains and everywhere else where people might pass by. They sell their pirated movies and software like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Perhaps it is! Indians buy a lot of these pirated stuff! Well, they cost next to nothing. Who wouldn’t want that?!! But have you ever thought about  this?

• Every pirated DVD you buy might make a family suffer with hunger.
• Every pirated DVD you buy might help terrorists plan their next attack.

Piracy is killing the local movie industry. Piracy is killing innocent people.

Let’s all realise our moral and ethical responsibility to our job and jointly fights film piracy.

If you find pirated DVDs of leader anywhere on the streets or on the internet Please report it to us.

Mail:antipiracygroupllc@gmail.com

kalyan@sureshprodctions.com

venkat.siddareddy@sureshproductions.com

Phone:939130333,9951999515,9966374360,9989318366.

Having grown up all along in the shadow of a family of stars, it was rather awe-inspiring to actually be able to walk with them at the audio launch of my debut film ‘Leader‘.

It was a motivating moment for me to see everyone, to be able to share my first audio release function with icons of the industry.

Mickey is a gifted young music director while Mr. Veturi has an amazing ability of putting inexpressible feelings into plain words – a virtuoso combination of music and lyrics for ‘Leader’. Sekhar’s intense drive towards patriotism resulted in a remarkable experience of working on our very own official state anthem ‘Maa Telugu Talliki’, a great patriotic melody.

The audio release became an extremely ‘family’ occasion for me as I was surrounded by my film families, friends and well-wishers. The whole affair turned out to be extremely emotional when hundreds of Venkatesh’s fans arrived; including elderly people who came just to have a glimpse of me. There were people who came all the way from places as far as Sholapur just to offer their support. I was touched by the intensity of the blessings from all these people.

Having grown up with Charan, I was always considered part of Mr. Chiranjeevi’s family and moreover, the knowledge that he imparted to Charan was always passed on to me as well. I missed Chaitanya’s presence at the event, however, Nagarjuna’s good wishes and blessings rather compensated for his missing presence. It was also particularly entertaining to see my pal Bunny so heartily share the limelight with me this time.

Even though Mr.Chiranjeevi arrived late, he politely waited for me to finish talking in order to avoid a media stir, an incredibly moving gesture on his part. Mr. Chiranjeevi and Mr.Nagarjuna wholeheartedly shared their blessings and wishes for me and I began to understand and appreciate the sheer size of the responsibility that comes with becoming an actor. It is a tough test to live up to the standard, success and achievement that these personalities have brought to Indian cinema.

The immeasurable amount of knowledge imparted to me by my grandfather, D. Ramanaidu, D. Suresh Babu and Venkatesh, all these years is priceless in my eyes. With a bit of luck and a lot of support, I aspire to do everything in my capability to carry on and maintain the rich tradition and dignity of my family, as well as this profession, to which our entire families have committed themselves to, all these years.

After a few successful years with DI, VFX, Animation, Restoration, Colorization and Gaming, I decided to move to a new episode in my life – Performing. I took a break for two years and underwent training in all aspects of acting before I faced the camera. The transition from being a CEO of a company to becoming an actor was remarkable. What began as managing large numbers of people, wheedling out creativity and ability from them and everything else that I usually did suddenly spun towards a solitary me. The spotlight was now on me, things like creativity, aptitude and flair were expected from me. If I didn’t like something that was happening, I could no longer fire the person as the person was now only me – solo.

The body, voice and the mind has to be ready to perform always. Creativity tops the list in this profession, not managerial or technical skills. At the most basic level, the actor must act so well, that the character the actor is playing comes alive and seems real. I make demands on myself and I’m always disciplined to work towards my goal. Acting is a whole new ballgame when the past few years of your life have been devoted to running an enterprise. This is one game I am looking forward to win with a lot of optimism and faith.

“Talent is a combination of something you love a great deal, something you can lose yourself in – something that you can start at 9 in the morning, look up from your work and it’s 10 o’clock at night – and something that you have a natural ability to do very well.” – George Lucas