Vijay Devarakonda had a meteoric rise after Pelli Choopulu release and his career got huge boost with Arjun Reddy. The movie earned him name as a performer all over South India and in Hindi, Shahid Kapoor got his first big blockbuster as solo hero with Arjun Reddy remake, Kabir Singh. With such a good track record and admiration among youth from different states, he decided to take his Dear Comrade to all South languages at a time and the movie is releasing on 26th July.
As part of the promotions, Vijay Devarakonda decided to sit down Tupaki.com and had a conversation about his film, career and ambitions, personal life. Here are the excerpts from our chit-chat ...
Q: Hi Vijay, we would like appreciate your success and growth, first of all. Coming to the questions, You did have many releases last year and this year, there is only one film coming from you, Dear Comrade. Why so?
Vijay: Hi. After Pelli Choopulu, lot of work came my way at a time. I had no time to think what is all happening to me. I did ad films, brand endorsements and there were multiple films. My films were all ready at the same time, for release and hence, I had to promote them every three months. While those films were releasing, simultaneously, I shot for Dear Comrade.
Q: You said that during Geetha Govindam release time, you were shooting for Dear Comrade. Which means movie took a long time to finish. Are the re-shoot rumours accurate? If so, how many days of re-shoots have been done for the film?
Vijay: No, we did not do any reshoots for the film. Our director, Bharat Kamma had some personal issues while shooting the film. So, we couldn't continuously shoot it. Also, we took time for pre-production and post production as we wanted to include elements that will be appreciated by different language audiences. I believe our Comrade will be dear to all of them.
Q: Do you have ambitions to become a Pan-India movie star? Doesn't this aggressive push for that status, at the start of your career, seem too risky?
Vijay: Cinema doesn't belong to one language. It is Universal and it has its own unique language. You just need talent to be successful in films despite language barriers and my films have become blockbusters in other languages too. So, I am going for a wide release in all South Indian languages as a trail. Mythri Movie Makers and Dear Comrade team also liked the idea, hence we are going for it, with proper planning.
Q: Have you taken Rashmika Mandanna in the film, since, she is popular in Karnataka too?
Vijay: (After some silence) I am not a person who looks for controversies and please don't drag me into one. If we thought Rashmika is popular in Karnataka and took her just for that, Geetha Govindam should have released directly in Kannada too. But we did release it in Tamil (of course, it did not become such a big success there... Chuckles). Coming to the point, we took Rashmika in this film because she suits the character of a cricketer and she did the movie because she liked the story and her character.
Q: You both are revered as a Hit-pair. What would you comment about that?
Vijay: These tags are highly common. We acted together in two films and the rumours about us are spreading due to that. I don't care about them and have nothing to comment about that.
Q: As you mentioned rumours, there are few that you are in a relationship with a foreign lady. Are they true?
Vijay: When I already said that I don't care about rumours, you're still asking me such a question. Fine, I will answer. I have no time to maintain a relation and I am not in relationship with anyone. May be if I have time, I can make all these rumours true, but I don't.
Q: You seem to be taking extra care about Dear Comrade, why?
Vijay: You mean intense promotions (* yeah, laughs)... It's a Pan-South Indian film and I am a new actor to all other languages. So, we conducted music fests everywhere. I am thrilled by the response we got, more than we expected and that gave me extra energy.
Q: You have become a Pan-India actor with Dear Comrade. Are you planning to do direct films in other languages?
Vijay: I don't have such plans at this juncture. My career is going well in Telugu and I take even an average as a flop but such incidents are not happening in my career (* err ... NOTA is a flop, know) Yeah, except for NOTA, there are not many instances for me to worry about my career in Telugu.
Q: How do you describe your character in Dear Comrade?
Vijay: Finally, you asked something straight about Dear Comrade. Even though the questions till now seemed to be related to Dear Comrade, I felt like I have answered on some unrelated topics. You might have understood after watching the trailer that I am playing a character who is aggressive and slightly short-tempered in nature in the film. He is very straightforward and how did that affect him is the story of our film. We touched an unique point in the film and the second half will be an emotional rollercoaster ride. I strongly believe that second half is the major strength of our film and the emotional scenes will be loved by audiences all over.
Q: Will Dear Comrade also enter the 100 crores club?
Vijay: I never think about collections. I don't wish for a certain amount of collections for my film. My flagship agenda is to entertain my fans and audiences who are watching my film. If we can achieve that, film will collect whatever it should and can, I believe in that.
* Thank You for taking out time Vijay and giving us an interview. Tupaki.com wishes you and your team, Dear Comrade, a huge hit.
Vijay: My dear comrade Tupaki.com readers, watch my film Dear Comrade at the theatres only. After a long time, my film is releasing directly in theatres and not in piracy. So Please go and watch this film only in Theatres. (Laughs) Thank you!
As part of the promotions, Vijay Devarakonda decided to sit down Tupaki.com and had a conversation about his film, career and ambitions, personal life. Here are the excerpts from our chit-chat ...
Q: Hi Vijay, we would like appreciate your success and growth, first of all. Coming to the questions, You did have many releases last year and this year, there is only one film coming from you, Dear Comrade. Why so?
Vijay: Hi. After Pelli Choopulu, lot of work came my way at a time. I had no time to think what is all happening to me. I did ad films, brand endorsements and there were multiple films. My films were all ready at the same time, for release and hence, I had to promote them every three months. While those films were releasing, simultaneously, I shot for Dear Comrade.
Q: You said that during Geetha Govindam release time, you were shooting for Dear Comrade. Which means movie took a long time to finish. Are the re-shoot rumours accurate? If so, how many days of re-shoots have been done for the film?
Vijay: No, we did not do any reshoots for the film. Our director, Bharat Kamma had some personal issues while shooting the film. So, we couldn't continuously shoot it. Also, we took time for pre-production and post production as we wanted to include elements that will be appreciated by different language audiences. I believe our Comrade will be dear to all of them.
Q: Do you have ambitions to become a Pan-India movie star? Doesn't this aggressive push for that status, at the start of your career, seem too risky?
Vijay: Cinema doesn't belong to one language. It is Universal and it has its own unique language. You just need talent to be successful in films despite language barriers and my films have become blockbusters in other languages too. So, I am going for a wide release in all South Indian languages as a trail. Mythri Movie Makers and Dear Comrade team also liked the idea, hence we are going for it, with proper planning.
Q: Have you taken Rashmika Mandanna in the film, since, she is popular in Karnataka too?
Vijay: (After some silence) I am not a person who looks for controversies and please don't drag me into one. If we thought Rashmika is popular in Karnataka and took her just for that, Geetha Govindam should have released directly in Kannada too. But we did release it in Tamil (of course, it did not become such a big success there... Chuckles). Coming to the point, we took Rashmika in this film because she suits the character of a cricketer and she did the movie because she liked the story and her character.
Q: You both are revered as a Hit-pair. What would you comment about that?
Vijay: These tags are highly common. We acted together in two films and the rumours about us are spreading due to that. I don't care about them and have nothing to comment about that.
Q: As you mentioned rumours, there are few that you are in a relationship with a foreign lady. Are they true?
Vijay: When I already said that I don't care about rumours, you're still asking me such a question. Fine, I will answer. I have no time to maintain a relation and I am not in relationship with anyone. May be if I have time, I can make all these rumours true, but I don't.
Q: You seem to be taking extra care about Dear Comrade, why?
Vijay: You mean intense promotions (* yeah, laughs)... It's a Pan-South Indian film and I am a new actor to all other languages. So, we conducted music fests everywhere. I am thrilled by the response we got, more than we expected and that gave me extra energy.
Q: You have become a Pan-India actor with Dear Comrade. Are you planning to do direct films in other languages?
Vijay: I don't have such plans at this juncture. My career is going well in Telugu and I take even an average as a flop but such incidents are not happening in my career (* err ... NOTA is a flop, know) Yeah, except for NOTA, there are not many instances for me to worry about my career in Telugu.
Q: How do you describe your character in Dear Comrade?
Vijay: Finally, you asked something straight about Dear Comrade. Even though the questions till now seemed to be related to Dear Comrade, I felt like I have answered on some unrelated topics. You might have understood after watching the trailer that I am playing a character who is aggressive and slightly short-tempered in nature in the film. He is very straightforward and how did that affect him is the story of our film. We touched an unique point in the film and the second half will be an emotional rollercoaster ride. I strongly believe that second half is the major strength of our film and the emotional scenes will be loved by audiences all over.
Q: Will Dear Comrade also enter the 100 crores club?
Vijay: I never think about collections. I don't wish for a certain amount of collections for my film. My flagship agenda is to entertain my fans and audiences who are watching my film. If we can achieve that, film will collect whatever it should and can, I believe in that.
* Thank You for taking out time Vijay and giving us an interview. Tupaki.com wishes you and your team, Dear Comrade, a huge hit.
Vijay: My dear comrade Tupaki.com readers, watch my film Dear Comrade at the theatres only. After a long time, my film is releasing directly in theatres and not in piracy. So Please go and watch this film only in Theatres. (Laughs) Thank you!