Interview : Puri Jagan – “Namratha approved Mahesh’s kiss”

Puri Jagan’s upcoming action entertainer, ‘Businessman’, is gearing up for a release on January 11th 2012. The movie has Prince Mahesh Babu and Kajal in the lead roles. Puri Jagan, Thaman and Bhaskara Bhatla held a press conference at the residence of Puri Jagan. Here is the transcript of that session for you folks.

Q) Businessman was scheduled for a Jan 11th release. But the movie has now been postponed to Jan 13th. Any specific reason?

A) Yes. We have decided to postpone the movie to Jan 13th keeping the long weekend in the US in mind. A Wednesday release will affect openings and that is the reason for our decision to postpone the film to 13th.

Q) How many theaters is Businessman releasing in?

A ) Businessman will be released in a massive way across the world in 1600 theaters. The film will have an unprecedented USA release of more than 100 screens. Advance booking will start tomorrow and complete information about theaters will also be available

Q) Rumour has it that a hot kiss scene is in the movie. Is it true?

A) Yes. There is a kiss scene in the movie. It will be on for a few seconds and it has come out well. We have allowed it in the final cut only after Namratha saw and approved it. The chemistry between Mahesh and Kajal is going to be an attraction for this film.

Q) Pilla Chao seems to be a direct lift of a foreign song. What have you got to say about this?.

A) (Thaman tries to answer. But Puri Cuts him off) Puri : Yes. It is inspired from an old Italian song and I don’t see what is the problem with it. We have been inspired by many foreign things. Have we invented the movie camera with which we are shooting? Are we not using it. Similarly, since the very beginning, we have been using a lot of foreign things in our movies. No point in making an issue out of it.

Q) How was it working with Mahesh Babu again after 5 years?

A) Mahesh Babu has changed a lot in these five years. Especially his voice. His punch dialogues in the movie have come out really well. His characterization will be radically different in this film. He has connected very well to the character and opponents will find it difficult to tell whether he is threatening them or ordering them.

Q) You have wrapped up the movie in record time. How was it possible?

A) We have shot the movie in 74 days. Mahesh Babu worked for 65 days. I must specially thank Mahesh Babu for his co-operation in wrapping up the shoot so quickly. Producer Suresh Reddy also planned everything perfectly. After the end of the shoot, I was amazed at the speed with which we completed the project.

Q) When will the Tamil and Malayalam versions of the movie release?

A) The Tamil and Malayalam versions of the movie will release 15 days after the Telugu release. We planned to release them 1 day after the Telugu release but because of some major native releases in those languages, we had to shift our dates.

Q) This is for you Thaman. How does it feel to score music for Mahesh Babu again after the massive and stunning success of Dookudu?

A) Thaman : I was overjoyed with the success of Dookudu. I was initially scared to score music for Mahesh Babu immediately after such a super hit, but Puri Jagan and Bhasakarabhatla stood by me and helped me come up with a good output. The movie has also come out very well and that helped me a lot in coming up with a good background score.

Q) This is for Bhaskarabhatla. ‘Sir Osthara’ became a massive success. What was your inspiration behind the song.?

A) Bhasakarabhatla : I first gave different lyrics to the tune Thaman gave me. Those lyrics were liked by Thaman and Puri also. But I was not fully satisfied. I wanted to do something better. So I worked some more and finally we came up with ‘Sir Osthara’. Thaman shares equal credit for the superb success the song achieved.

With that the session ended. We hope you enjoyed reading the interview.

123telugu.com team

Interview Telugu Version