I have no godfather; I struggled hard to reach here: Nani on Dasara’s success

Hyderabad: Nani and Keerthy Suresh starrer Dasara is doing well at the box office. Srikanth Odela's directorial is said to be entering the Rs 100 crore club at the box office. It is one of the very few films made against the backdrop of Telangana. As the film has become a hit for various reasons, let us talk to Nani about the making of Dasara and several other aspects of visual beauty. Excerpts:

NM: Hi, Nani. Congratulations on the success of Dasara.

Nani: Thank you so much. Feels nice to be talking about the film post-release and its success.

NM: People are comparing Dasara and your performance to Ram Charan in Rangasthalam and Allu Arjun in Pushpa. It made its way to the list of cult films in Telugu cinema. How do you feel?

Nani: I feel delighted. Thanks to the audiences for their comparison. If the film and my performance have made such an impact on them, I am really glad about it. Both Rangasthalam and Pushpa are two of the many all-time blockbusters of the industry. Ram Charan and Allu Arjun have delivered their best for those films and if the audiences believe I have given my best to Dasara, what else do I need?

NM: You have compared Dasara to RRR. You were always confident about your success and people got offended by that. What do you have to say about it?

Nani: Only after watching the film, people realized why I was always confident about Dasara's success. As you said, many people thought I was overconfident. I even went through a few articles which were written to roast me for my confidence. But now the same people are praising me for my performance and understood the reason behind my confidence.

NM: You have introduced 10 new directors to the industry. You are still doing it. Don't you feel like you need to play a safe game now?

Nani: I have no godfather here. I struggled hard to reach where I am today. Somebody should give chance to newcomers, right? And a safe game is not my cup of tea anymore. I go ahead and do the film if I like the story. I will be taking the risk

NM: Were you convinced that Keerthy Suresh could play Vennela?

Nani: I was always sure that Keerthy could pull off the role of Vennela. I was the one who asked Srikanth to narrate the story to Keerthy. He had someone else in mind and when he went to give the narration he was praying to god and wished that Keerthy should say no. The day she was on the sets, and when he asked her to do certain things as a part of the test look, she just nailed it.

NM: Now that Telugu films are going global, and you are a producer as well, do you think it is high time to invest in the content and not the face value of the lead actor?

Nani: Some stories, which need to be told to audiences, definitely need a face that can be easily recognized. If Netflix is making a movie and can spend hundreds of crores on it, they are okay with it because it will be there on their app and nobody can ask them to remove it. But for theatrical releases, the game is different. Producer needs a face that will make the audiences come to the theaters, and also add weightage to the story. So yes, it is time to invest in the content and of course, make sure the lead actors are chosen well.