Hyderabad: After Oh My God, Venkatesh is once again coming up with a remake. This time he has chosen the Malayalam hit film Drishyam, with the same title in Telugu.
Venkatesh, one of the few actors who have pulled off remakes successfully, says, “I don’t care whether people call me a ‘remake hero’. When I don’t get the right subject here, I pick up these remakes. I didn’t come to the industry to enjoy star status or popularity. I wanted to provide some entertainment. Till now people have liked my work and this encourages me,” says Venkatesh.
“Whether you are doing a remake or an original subject, in the end you have to be successful. Actually these remakes never affected my work. As an actor, I have improved a lot and some of my remakes have done better than the original films,” he adds.
Talking about Drishyam, he says that it will be a path-breaking film of his career. “In this film I have a mature character where I play a father of two kids. It has a strong story and an extraordinary screenplay. I am glad that I decided to take up this Malayalam film at the right time,” he says, adding that his character will connect with every father.
“It’s a big challenge to do a remake. The character has already been done by a top actor in another language and you are getting into his shoes. He has got his own body language and I have to do my own thing and also improve it. I have never attempted Mohan Lal’s films and this is the first time I am doing a remake of his film,” he adds.
About Kamal Haasan suggesting his name for the film, Venkatesh says, “When he knew that I was doing the film, he was happy. He thought I would be a good choice for the film. Recently he told me to start experimenting and to do new kinds of films. He is a big influence for any actor,” says Venky.
Apart from Kamal, Venky also takes inspiration from Amitabh Bachchan, regarding the type of roles to choose. “I am 50 plus now and I have to look into more matured characters because I can’t do Premunchukundam Raa or Premante Idera kind of romantic films. We have to take a lesson from these two actors, but at the same time look at our own comfort levels. I am confident that after this film many writers and directors will come up with new ideas,” he says.
About Gopala Gopala, the remake of Oh My God, he says that he has started shooting for the film while Pawan Kalyan will enter after some time. “I know Pawan Kalyan for a long time. Both of us are on the same path spiritual and we have some common likes. He is not an ordinary person and now he has entered politics. I have wished him luck.”
Venky adds that his son Arjun will not be debuting anytime soon. “The film has one child artiste and people thought that Arjun would act in it. But he is not doing the film. At that time he had school holidays and he had come for the launch,” he says.
