Being the captain of the ship

Director AS Ravi Kumar Chowdary wears a bright smile as he discusses the successful reception of his latest directorial venture, ‘Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam’ at the box office. “As the film got a positive response, I forgot all the difficulties that came on the way to achieve that. I am glad that people liked it,” he says.

When he says difficulties, he really means it. After shooting a substantial part of the film, Srihari, who was playing one of the key characters in the film died and that was a big shocker for Ravi Kumar. “When I wrote the character, Srihari was who I pictured and that is the reason I was in a state of shock. It was tough to envision someone else in the role. His mannerisms, way of talking and body language were perfect for the role,” he recalls.

But Jagapathi Babu stepped into the shoes of Srihari and Ravi Kumar says that he proved to be the perfect fit. “I didn’t think anyone else could do the role. But once Jagapathi Babu came into the picture, I made small changes in dialogue and mannerisms to suit him. And in my opinion he did complete justice to the role,” he elucidates.

“I should thank Allu Aravind for that. He helped me calm down and made me realise that it wasn’t the end of the world. He told me that I was the captain and that I needed to be strong for the team,” he says.

Interestingly, Ravi Kumar hasn’t directed a film in a long time though he did make small appearances in the films ‘Jagadam’ and ‘Broker’. “That’s because I didn’t want to hurry into making movies. To me what matters in not how many movies I make but rather the quality of movies that I make. I want my films to stand out and be remembered,” he shares.

When asked how acting happened, he says, “Both the directors are my good friends and so I did those roles. But to be frank I like being a director – the captain of the ship. I don’t want to be a train bogie… I’d rather drive it from the front.”

However, Ravi Kumar’s words fumble as he is asked about his defensive Facebook posts against actor Ravi Teja. His account was deleted a while after the incident.

“It was done by some perpetrators and I do not wish to discuss anything related to that. In future I will be careful when it comes to handling social media sites,” he says assertively before he signs off.