In Tollywood where movies of three fights and six songs are a standard staple for cinema, ‘Prasthanam’ directed by Deva Katta came as a surprise to many who had given up hope. The movie had intense performances, strong dialogues, a sensible story line, applause worthy cinematography and more than anything else, the film had Sundeep Kishan.This 23-year-old with a mammoth love for cinema is the most critically acclaimed actor of the year. Basking in the glory of appreciation for his whistle drawing performance, Sundeep admits that he did the role as he liked it immensely and spontaneity did the wonders on screen.
“Method acting doesn’t work for every character. For my character Chinna in ‘Prasthanam’, I had to be unpredictable and spontaneous. I used to rehearse my dialogues just minutes before the shot. My body language for that character had to be a surprise for the audience and so I consciously didn’t follow any method for the performance in it. While shooting for it, I used to talk very little and was in my own world,” says the actor.
Incidentally, ‘Prasthanam’ was the only Telugu movie that was selected for Indian panorama in the Goa film festival this year. Nephew of ace cinematographers Chota K Naidu and Shyam K Naidu, Sundeep considers compliments from his family and film maker Krishna Vamsi the best ones for his acting in the movie.
“Krishna Vamsi is my favourite director and I admire him a lot. After watching the movie, he walked up to me and abused me with foul words asking me how I could deliver such stupendous performance in my first movie. I guess that is the best thing one has ever said to me in appreciation of my work.” he reveals.
An MBA from Loyola College in Chennai, Sundeep grew up loving cinema and worked as assistant director to filmmaker Gautam Menon for the movie ‘Surya S/O Krishnan’. This year, his second release, ‘Snehageetam’ did decent business in the state, cementing his position in Tollywood.
Sundeep is now looking forward to the release of his first Hindi movie, ‘Shor’, a Balaji Telefilms production in which he shares screen space with Tusshar Kapoor and Senthil Ramamoorthy. ‘Shor’ has gotten rave reviews at an international film festivals. “‘Shor’ is an international film that India will be proud of. Mine is a realistic, performance oriented role. I thought ‘Shor’ was a great opportunity for a debut actor like me and I grabbed it. The director of the film, Krishna, directed ‘99’, one of my all time favourite movies. When he wanted to cast me, I went ahead without giving it a second thought,” Kishan says.
So will we ever get to see him in a gravity defying fight sequence and a movie with illogical SUV flying scenes?
“I am not doing films for the critics or the audience. No one knows what kind of movies appeal to critics and audience. I can only be a part of a film I believe in. I am not here for money but for satisfaction. I want audience to get value for money when they watch my movies,” says Kishan, adding, “I don’t see anything wrong in movies with gravity defying fights as long as it is value for money for the audience. I enjoy movies with fights and songs. ‘Robot’ too had logic-defying stunts but the audience loved it. I will do any genre if I am confident that it will be a paisa vasool for movie-goers.”
However, critically acclaimed it might be, ‘Prasthanam’ wasn’t a commercial blockbuster at the box office. Does he think the Telugu audience is ready to watch parallel cinema?
“For a film not to do good, there are so many factors. The Telugu audience adored films like ‘Sinduram’ and ‘Anthapuram’. If a film is good, it works and the movie’s success depends on a lot of things. For all you know the taste of the audience might change by the time you finish your movie. For instance, ‘Prasthanam’ had four songs. But after the morning show, the audience wanted us to remove those songs immediately. Commercial cinema is something that works at the box office. There is nothing called parallel cinema, because all movies are made to work at the box office,” he quips.
Sources say that Sundeep is waiting for the response to ‘Shor’ to make his next move in Tollywood and is also in talks with Tamil filmmakers. An ardent cinema lover, this three-movie-old star reveals that his life time ambition is for his name to be synonymous with good cinema.
“I am ambitious and want to do lot of films. I want audience to believe in me for my films. I want to be the reason for people to come to theatres. I would consider that my life time achievement if they associate me with sensible entertainment,” he says, on a parting note.