Sumanth Ashwin is on his way completing his fourth film Kerintha being directed by Saikiran Adivi. Better known to industry folk as producer M.S. Raju's son, he impressed audiences with his first film Anthakamundu Aataruvata . The natural performer took on another complex subject Chakkiligintha directed by newcomer Vema Reddy and he was lucky enough to have the third film Lovers , a romantic comedy also that focussed on him to a large extent.
Explaining why Chakkiligintha didn't click at the box office, he says a lag and lack of entertainment in the post interval scenes harmed the film. He says, “I loved the concept when director Vema Reddy narrated the story, it was very exciting. He narrated it completely but after that there were some small changes. Somewhere later we thought the entertainment factor was missing and it became a bit slow. Out of all the films, I put in a lot of preparation for this particular character and worked with passion. For Antakamundu … I looked at people from Rajamundry, how guys behave, their body language and learnt a few things. For Lovers there wasn't much preparation, it was improvised on the sets."
Sumanth stresses that movies are all about team work and his father as well as producer Dil Raju have a knack of picking the right stories...like Rajkumar Hirani. They take inputs of other people...they exhibit it to non-filmi people and a few critics and then they go ahead with the release.
In Kerintha Sumanth is playing one amongst three heroes and has no qualms in sharing space with the rest as he believes the story is the hero. He says, “I started shooting for Kerintha even before Chakkiligintha released. It is a story about three boys..their hardships and good times. More than a hero, I am playing a character. It is a challenge and I am in the film, a very good example of a good human being. Sai Kiran and Dil Raju felt there is need for entertainment and made sure the character has a perfect balance and ensured there are no dull moments. Kerinthe is somewhat similar to Dil Chahta Hai and Happy Days .”
So four films old, has he assessed his strength and weakness? “I still have a long way to go, I am happy I did Anthaka Mundu Aataruvatha , a commercial film like Lovers . I am actually looking forward to doing stories that appeal to the audience, they should be entertained. Any genre is fine with me as long as the producer and the audience are happy. My father has a wonderful judgement, I make use of his experience; If I like a story I ask him to listen to it, his judgement did not fail in my career...99.9 percent doesn't go wrong.”
Ask him why so many heroines were replaced before Sridivya was finalised as the lead in Kerintha and he quips they didn't fall into the age group of the ensemble cast. The girls he says were all pretty and talented but they didn't fit into the character. The unit took a long time to fine tune the script and also at the pre-production stage.
The shoot is 80 per cent done and it will be wrapped by March first week. Kerintha is a cry of the youth when they are overtly happy.
Sumanth is open to listening to scripts from newcomers. After all, all big directors were at one time newcomers. The debutants have the passion to work, the urge to prove themselves, he feels. The only thing he laments is that he is never happy with his work though people compliment him, “I am never satisfied, I know for sure I could have given a far better output.”
