After the huge success of 'Businessman' at the beginning of the year, director Puri Jagannadh is back in the game with the Pawan Kalyan-starrer 'Cameraman Ganga tho Rambabu'. Having started his career with the actor with 'Badri' in 2000, the reunion is something that fans are more than excited about, especially post the success of Pawan Kalyan’s la'st film Gabbar Singh'. Speaking about the film a day before the release, Puri tells us about how he made a film about someone who is news savvy while having read the newspaper himself about five times in his life.
“'Cameraman Ganga tho Rambabu' is a script I wrote about four years ago. While discussing it with Ravi Teja, it was him who suggested that (Pawan) Kalyan would best suit the role. After Badri I had planned a few scripts for him, but nothing worked out. So when Kalyan asked me to do a film on social responsibility, 'Cameraman Ganga...' happened,” he recalls.
With this being his 25th film in his career spanning over 12 years, Puri has shown a consistent graph in the industry, both film-wise and hit-wise. But has he never run dry while working on scripts? “Well, yes I do face the occasional writer’s block. I then take time off, either go on a vacation, read a book, listen to music or just be alone,” he says. However, his tendency to stick to short time-frames is the secret behind the success. “I spend a maximum of 15 days on a script. Nothing much changes after that, whether I direct the script immediately, a year or 10 later. Once the casting production and everything’s been set, I’m already working on the next project. So by the time a film’s made, the next two project’s are already lined up.”
A self-professed workaholic, he adds, “I don’t like sitting around; I need to keep working. Which is how I’ve been able to make as many films thus far.”
So how did the script for his latest come about? “I wondered how someone from society would react to what’s happening in the news. I for one do not read the newspaper, so the fascination was even more. In the film, Rambabu, a car mechanic is pushed into the media glare. He comes into the journalistic profession because of the heroine — Cameraman Ganga. The movie then tells of how politicians use the media for their benefit and how Rambabu turns the tables on them.”
Unlike 'Businessman', Puri warns that the film isn’t heavy with violence or philosophy, but raises certain pertinent points nevertheless. “A socially responsible person needn’t necessarily be a journalist, and that journalists, though the most liberal in the society, still do not completely enjoy freedom of speech. That and certain other points make up the movie. It has quite a few dialogues, nothing meant to deliver a punch, but pertinent nevertheless. At one-point there is a four-minute dialogue that Kalyan delivers,” reveals the director, adding that the content of the film is something that everybody will appreciate, and will definitely meet the expectations of all their fans.
“After 'Gabbar Singh', everybody has been on a high. So this film has to definitely be bigger and I’m sure of it.”
Actress Tamannah on the other hand, essays the role of the cameraman. A tomboy who believes that women are no less than men, her character Ganga seems to be more like a loose canon. “I chose her because I initially thought she’d look nice and fit the bill. But she seriously over-shot my expectations. I think she did a brilliant job of being this woman who believes that she’s on an equal footing as her male counterparts. In the film too, she introduces her self as camera-’man’ Ganga.”
Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu’, which also stars Koti Srinivas Rao and Prakash Raj in vital roles, releases this Friday on October 18.