'Actor Sudeep has a great cinematic mind'

The director lauds Sudeep’s film-making abilities by saying, “Sudeep has a great cinematic mind. He has delivered a film that appeals to the masses and yet is made so stylishly. I have watched him in Rann and never knew this side to him,” says Rajamouli, who adds, “It is quite an uphill task to both direct and act in such a film. The fact that Sudeep has done that and come out in flying colours needs to be lauded.”

The screening also had a select few others which included Telugu film industry’s favourite music director MM Keeravani. He connects the present political scenario to that of onscreen. He said, “One Anna Hazare and one cop like Kempe Gowda can clean up the entire nation, we don’t need Kalki at all then.”

Owing to the current strike in Tollywood between the workers and producers, the team managed to have time for this screening.
The Eega team, which is currently waiting to see what becomes of the third successive strike in Tollywood, may have to shoot outside Hyderabad. “If this strike continues to carry on for long, then we might have to look at options of shooting outside Hyderabad, as opposed to our original plan of shooting in and around Hyderabad,” says Rajamouli.

About Eega, he says, “This was a concept that was in my head for over 15 years. My father had once jokingly put forth this concept of a housefly coming back for revenge and fighting a human. The story has only become bigger since then. While this film will be big on visual effects, unlike Magadheera, which was based on fantasy, this is natural.”

Rajamouli is also simultaneously busy with the groundwork of his next film, an untitled venture with Prabhas. “This will again be larger than life. The budget of this film will be one-and-a-half times as much as Magadheera. Though, currently, my major focus remains on Eega,” he states.