Havish’s career has been a roller coaster ride, but he is leaving no stone unturned to be in the spotlight with an impressive line-up of films. “I have no godfather in the industry and I’m happy with whatever I have done so far. My last film Ram Leela (2015) didn’t do well, but it fetched me a big project. I want to work in films that are rich in content and always aspire to give my best in whatever I do. Soon after the teaser of Seven released, I have signed on three films and one of them has hit the floors recently. Despite some gap, I think I’m still in the game,” says Havish reflecting on his career in the industry. Excerpts from an interview:
What is Seven all about?
It’s a fast-paced contemporary romantic thriller with several layers and intriguing plotline. The backdrop is quite unfamiliar to our audience and I believe they will forget they are watching a different film 20 minutes into it. The story revolves around seven principal characters – six of who are female leads and how each love story unfolds is going to keep the audience on their toes.
There has to be a significant reason behind choosing to work in a bilingual...
Seven is my first Telugu-Tamil bilingual. Initially, we started it off as a straight film in Telugu. But producer MS Sharavanan liked the story and came forward to produce the Tamil version. We believe Seven is a kind of film that can work in any language.
We heard you refused to dub your own lines for the Tamil version...
I wasn’t keen on doing a Tamil film as I cannot speak the language. I suggested the makers’ rope in another hero for the Tamil version, but our producer Ramesh Varma and director Nizar Shafi were insistent about me doing it. The first week of the shoot was like a nightmare. I had memorised a small dialogue (in Tamil) for 1000 times, but I couldn’t pull it off when the camera started rolling. It took me a lot of time to understand the meaning of a word and credit to my makers and my co-stars – Anisha Ambrose and others for helping me with the lines. However, keeping the best interests of our film in mind, I suggested the makers go for a dubbing artiste.
Why were you hesitant about lip-locks?
When Shafi told me about the lip-lock scene on the very first day of the shoot, I informed him that I’m not ready for it as such scenes make me uncomfortable. Unhappy over my no-kissing policy, our producer kept taunting me that an actor should do what it requires for a film. After a week, I realised that he was extremely angry and it was then I agreed to do it. I think such scenes will work only if both actors feel comfortable.
You are venturing into production with Rakshasudu...
Apart from acting, I want to gain a foothold as a producer too. Production has been on my list for a long time and when I saw Ratsasan (Tamil), I couldn’t think of a better film to start my journey as a producer. We have wrapped up the film steadfastly in a single schedule and we locked July 18 as the release date. I will continue producing films with other heroes who are willing to collaborate with me.
— Murali Krishna CH
muralikrishna.db@newindianexpress
@onlymurali