Who’s that guy with the curly hair? That was the first reaction to Sairam Shankar in his latest release Bumper Offer directed by Jay Ravindra. The actor arrived on the scene about five years ago with 143 directed by his director brother Puri Jagannath. The movie fared averagely at the box office. Danger and Hello Premisthara followed in the years after that.
However, with Bumper Offer, Sairam Shankar has managed to take everyone by surprise. He has impressed audiences with not just his styling but his acting skills as well. And going by box-office reports Sairam Shankar appears to have finally tasted success.
The actor is a happy man as he says, “The film has been getting a good response from all over the region. In fact, we knew the movie was a hit after the morning show of the opening day. I am very happy and satisfied.’’
The music has been given by Raghu Kunche, who has turned a music director with this movie. The catchy songs have only added to the movie’s success.
One of the songs from the movie, Ravanamma, has become a rage with the public and can be heard everywhere, on FM channels, TV, on the lips of your dhobi and as a caller tune. The song explains how recession has affected everyone and about its effects. Sairam reminisces, “Our sessions for the movie had started with the Ravanamma song. The way the song was shaping up, we knew it was going to be a chartbuster. The one thing that really appealed to everyone was that it was about the current impact of recession and everyone could identify with the song.”
He adds, “The song’s subject was my brother Puri Jagannath’s idea and it worked well.” Coming back to his curly locks, what prompted him to go for the daring hairdo? “I thought I should change my look and curled my hair for it. Though it was quite a tiring procedure, the effort has paid off and I am now receiving a lot of praise.” Sairam informs that every two months, he had to go through an eight-hour session to curl the hair. “From now onwards, I will change my look for every movie,” he declares.
Before venturing into acting, Sairam assisted his brother in direction for more than seven years and that is when the acting bug bit him. “I worked as an assistant director for my brother from 1997 till 2004 within which we had directed serials for Doordarshan to commercial flicks. Pavan Kalyan’s Badri and Nagarjuna’s Sivamani are some of the movies that I had worked on as an assistant director,” he reveals.
Apart from watching lot of movies during his free time, Sairam also hits the gym regularly. “I had got an eight pack for my previous project which was to be directed by my brother. But the project got shelved due to some reasons,” he says.
Meanwhile, Sairam is quite content to bask in the success of Bumper Offer till the next offer comes along.
