In conversation with Makkhi (Eega) director S S Rajamouli

Eega (Makkhi) director S S Rajamouli is all set to finally break into Hindi films. In a candid chat with MovieChakkar, he discusses his future plans and why he disapproves of remakes. Excerpts: Is it true after Makkhi you’ve finally decided to take the plunge into making a Hindi film? Yes, it’s actually going to be a Hindi-Telugu film. It’s a universal story, not star-centric film. When I was in Mumbai for the promotion of Makkhi I met Ajay Devgn, Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan. I wanted to meet Aamir Khan. He was shooting out of India. I also met my favourite director Raju Hirani. All of them showered praises on Makkhi. I am now confident about attempting a film in Hindi. I believe if you have a good story to tell, audiences will watch it. Whom would you be working with in Hindi? It would have to be the Telugu star Prabhas. We’re committed to make the next film with him. I did work with Ajay Devgn and Kajol who did the voiceover in Makkhi. I wanted a couple with easily identifiable voices but with an image for being family-oriented. Ajay and Kajol fitted the bill. You get a good feel about them. Ajay agreed when I approached him. But I insisted he see the film first. After seeing the film the first thing he said, ‘I must show this film to my kids.’ I believe you’ve zeroed in on the subject that you want to make in Hindi? Yes, I am looking at shooting my next film in Hindi and Telugu. It is a period film. But not a historical. It’s a folk story. And no, it’s not about reincarnation. I’m done with reincarnation after Magadheera and Eega. What’s this fascination with the theme of reincarnation? It started with Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun. I remember watching that film. For the first time I openly laughed and wept during a film. Earlier I was very reserved about my emotions. Karan Arjun opened up my emotions. Why have you stayed away from Hindi cinema so far? To be very frank, I never got very good offers from Hindi cinema until Eega. Now I’m flooded with offers. But I’ve some commitments to fulfill in the South before I head to Mumbai to make a film. Of course… as a storyteller I want my cinema to reach a larger audience, no doubt about that. Your films have been remade and dubbed into several Indian languages .Yet you continue to function from Andhra Pradesh? I am very happy and proud to be known as a Telugu filmmaker. I am glad to know my films make a pan-India impact. I see no linguistic impediment. But to make a film in Hindi would be an advantage. It has to be a universal story like Makkhi. A fly is a fly anywhere. Vikramarkurdu was made as a star-vehicle for Ravi Tejaa. I couldn’t have made it for the entire country. It was tailored for Telugu audiences. Why didn’t you direct Rowdy Rathore, the Hindi version of your hit Vikramarkurdu? Because it was never offered to me! And even it was, I wouldn’t have done it. I’ll be making an original film in Hindi. No point in doing the same film twice over. What did you think of Rowdy Rathore? Frankly, I’m not a fan of my original film in Telugu either. I know it had some good moments, for example the sentiments shared between the hero and the little girl who reforms him, which made the film work. The re-makers exploited those moments but not enough. We gave much more footage in Vikramarkurdu to the father-daughter scenes. The refrain Chin ta ta chi ta ta in Rowdy Rathore was lifted from Vikramarkurdu and used into Rowdy Rathore? Actually it was not our original tune either. My music composer M M Kreem didn’t compose it. It’s like …how do I put it?...a folk tune in Tamil Nadu. It’s a kind of anthem refrain among students in the state. Youngsters compose their own crude protest songs and then cap it with Chinta ta ta. It has existed in Tamil Nadu for generations. I made it a part of Ravi Tejaa’s character and then it was given to Akshay Kumar. Do you approve of filmmakers lifting secondary material? I think there’s a very thin line between copying and adapting. I think its okay to use material from earlier films. As long as it doesn’t hurt the original creator we can use it. Can you give me an example? In so many films of mine I’ve used scenes and shots inspired by earlier films. My Maryada Ramanna (now remade into Son Of Sardar) was inspired by a 1923 Buster Keaton silent film Our Hospitality. One could say I copied the film. I don’t mind. When I saw the original I liked it so much I wanted to re-tell the same story on my own way. I even tried to find the original creators. But no one existed. The original writers died in the 1930s. Technically any material that has existed for more than 75 years can be used without a copyright claim. But if you use material in Hindi film from a contemporary Punjabi, Oriya or Telugu film you need to take permission. What did you think of Akshay Kumar in Rowdy Rathore? When I made my film I made Ravi Tejaa pander to Telugu sensibilities. I think Prabhu Deva who directed the Hindi remake, made Akshay Kumar act according to the tastes of North Indian sensibilities. The two performances cannot be compared. Now your Maryada Ramanna turns your Telugu hero into a Sardarji in Son Of Sardar? I don’t know what the cultural politics of Punjab is like. But in one area of Andhra Pradesh family feuds that persist for many generations is a reality. That’s what I showed in Maryada Ramanna. I saw families that were perfectly cultured and courteous, killing each other. Now you will have to tell me if such family feuds exist in Punjab. I don’t think this peculiar contradictory culture of the co-existence of violence and hospitality exists in Punjab. Even your other blockbuster Magadheera is being remade into Hindi? Why don’t you direct it? No thanks. I’ve already spent two years of my life on it. I’d rather make something else. Magadheera was my toughest film to make. Very tiring. But the most satisfying film I’ve made is Maryada Ramanna. That’s my only film I don’t get bored watching in its entirety. But Eega (Makkhi) is my biggest hit to date. How did you think of making a film with a fly as a hero? It was there in my subconscious for a long time. My father was a well-known storywriter. He was a storehouse of stories. He told me a story about a boy who was killed by the villain and was re-born as a fly. I wanted Eega to be like a bedtime story. The special effects in Eega-Makkhi are being compared with Hollywood films? I’d like to thank one Mr Kamal Kannan a VFX producer who has worked with me in several films. I was confident about the visual effects because I had done them before. But animation was entirely new to me. All the animation technicians in my film were youngsters in the 25-28 age group. Looking at them you can’t tell they are such high-caliber professionals. What I am proudest of in Eega is the animation. How did the fly in Eega acquire its human personality? We had to make sure that the fly behaved the same way as the actor Naani who dies and is born as a fly. The quality in Naani’s personality that had to be transferred to the fly was positivity. Once we got that in place we had to work on the physical appearance of a fly. In close-ups an actual fly is ugly. At the same time if we changed it, it would become a cartoon character. I have to thank the actor Sudeep who plays the fly’s adversary for making the conflict look believable. I can say without any reservation that Sudeep is the best actor I’ve worked with. Shekhar told me the visual effects worked so effectively because of Sudeep. The fly has no expressions. It is only through Sudeep’s expressions that we know what the fly is up to. Why and how was the fly designed wearing a mask? When we sat down to write the script the first question was, why is it so difficult to kill the fly? That’s when we thought the fly should have a protective mechanism. And to make that protective mechanism for the fly we made the heroine a miniature artiste. Has Ajay Devgn shown you the remake of Maryada Ramanna? Not yet. What did your children think of Eega/Makkhi? They loved it. My son and daughter constantly talk about films. I am getting worried. I feel I am pushing them prematurely into cinema.