Making it big in Bollywood
A man of few words, Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi, — or Krish, as he is popularly known — prefers to let his work do the talking. From a series of hit Telugu films and a Nandi award, Krish is now making his directorial debut in Bollywood with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gabbar Is Back.
Born in Guntur, Krish moved out to finish his graduation. “My family and friends knew that I wanted to become a director. So they helped me with the initial funding and slowly, I made a mark here,” he says.
“I had to face a lot of difficulties. There were days when I would take my scripts from person to person and they would keep getting rejected. When I directed Gamyam (2008), it was my father who funded the film and it worked wonders for me,” he says.
Later, Krish went on to make Vedam and Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum in Telugu and Vaanam in Tamil. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who watched Gamyam was so impressed with Krish that he decided to make the film in Telugu. “During the casting of the film, he happened to have the script for Gabbar Is Back and he asked me to direct it, that’s how it all fell in place,” says Krish. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known to be a tough-task master, but Krish says it was a joy to work with him, “Sanjay sir had no airs, he let me take charge. He visited the sets in the beginning and after that he only watched the film. He gave me full control,” he says.
Gabbar Is Back stars Akshay Kumar and Shruti Haasan and Krish says that it was a blast working with them. “Akshay is such a punctual star. He is always there five minutes before the shoot, he is also the biggest prankster,” he adds. The director plans to work in both Bollywood and Tollywood. “I had settled in Mumbai two and a half years back, but I will continue to make films in both the industries,” he says.