Pawan Kalyan’s film Gabbar Singh is in the list of five top grossers of Telugu cinema. The 2012 film also was Pawan Kalyan’s biggest success after a 10-year bad phase. Now, four years later, came PK’s Sardaar Gabbar Singh, a remake of the Hindi film Dabangg.
“Honestly, I didn’t want to do the remake of Dabangg. When I saw the Hindi film I thought it was successful because of Salman Khan’s image and his persona. The Hindi film was well made and his character too was powerful. I felt I would have to make a lot of alterations for the Telugu version, so I rejected it,” said Pawan Kalyan.
But PK was going through a bad phase in his life then. “The bad phase became worse when my brother (Nagababu) made a film and it flopped. I was the guarantee for the financiers. I needed to clear my debts and I was desperate, so I told them to show me Dabangg once again. I decided to change the character to suit the sensibilities of my Telugu audiences and started shooting for Gabbar Singh”.
20 years, 20 films
He started his film career in 1996, and in these 20 years, Pawan Kalyan has acted in only 20 films. “Indian cinema needs all ingredients like emotion, action, sentiment and humour; it’s not easy. It’s easy to make a Hollywood film as it goes with a pattern. Our cinema needs a lot of commercial ingredients. That’s why I don’t do many films,” he says.
Quitting movies, only politics
He has decided to stop acting. “I want to focus more on politics now, so I can’t do films. For this film, I worked 24x7 for nearly three months and didn’t think about any other work. So I decided to quit acting and focus on politics.” He says he will quit acting before the next general elections. “Moreover, I am tired of acting. I can’t dance like somebody else and satisfy everyone. Even if it was not politics, I would leave. I should quit when I am successful, not when people asked me to leave,” the actor says.
Personal life
This is the first time Pawan Kalyan talks about his personal life. “I wanted to remain a bachelor from the beginning, but I got married thrice and I don’t know why I did it. I think it’s not easy to live with me because of my impatience and busy schedules. Sometimes my mother is unhappy about a few decisions I have taken, but it is completely personal and I don’t want to make it public,” he says.
I have been busy with my film for the last two months and I miss my kids. I take my three kids on trips during holidays but don’t take them to the shoot locations, but they accompany me and sit in my van,” the doting dad says. “I feel bad about not spending much time with them. I accept it because it is my destiny. Sometimes I feel bad about them growing in different situations,” says the actor.
Politics, cinema different
After he joined politics, people expected to see something related to his political life in his film. “But I don’t encourage those kinds of films. Someone approached me to do a message-oriented film as I joined politics, but I refused. In my personal view, cinema is meant for entertainment and I don’t need to use cinema as a medium for politics. If I want to say something, I won’t mince words. I am straightforward, I don’t need cinema to say it,” says the actor. “The writers could write one or two dialogues in the film, but I prefer cinema as a means of entertainment,” he says. And that is why he dedicated the movie to his fans. “It’s not a great story, a classic film or a great literary work. The film has all the ingredients of an entertainment flick which my fans love it, so I dedicate it to them,” he adds.
Pressure-free
Pawan Kalyan never feels pressure when his film fails. “I always believe in the story and cinematic flow. It’s a creative field and if I fear, I can’t move forward. Before I entered films, a relative said my films could make '70 lakh to '80 lakh; that was my market. But I don’t judge others; no one can decide a person’s real potential. Even if people wrote off my debut film, if I was under pressure or fear, I wouldn’t have reached here. So I never feel pressure and always think that people who put their money on me should be safe,” he says.
‘No takers for my film’
Asked why he made a film after a gap of four years, his reply was: “No one came forward to make a film with me all these three years. I depend on my films for a living and I have to pay my staff. I know there is a big market for my films, still no one approaches me. A couple of people came, but their stories were not good, so I decided to do it on my own,” says Pawan Kalyan about his screenplay and story for the film. “Actually I had planned another film with Sharath, but that did not work out and time was running out. So I decided to do it on my own,” reveals the actor.
How was the name Gabbar Singh was coined
Pawan Kalyan’s role as a cop named Gabbar Singh was a tribute to a cop he had known. “During my initial days in Hyderabad, my friends from Old City used to tell about a tough police officer named Gabbar Singh. I have seen him twice from a distance. He is famous for being strict about rules. So, when I decided to do this film, I wanted to name my character as Gabbar Singh. The real cop is the inspiration for my character,” says PK. He also added a few elements – like the hero a fan of Sholay from his childhood, to establish the character. Then he asked Harish Shankar to direct it.
Now, even Sardaar Gabbar Singh has a story behind its name.
“The title Gabbar Singh was patented and we had to pay for the Sholay Entertainment people. For this film, I wanted the name Gabbar Singh 2, but they asked for money yet again. So we went by Sardaar Gabbar Singh and the issue was solved amicably,” he reveals.
Mining backdrop
The film is set against a mining backdrop and the actor says the inspiration was drawn from true incidents of mining in Bellary. “I have a huge fan following in Bellary and when they met me, they told me about their problems. I have seen mining done without proper safety measures and not taking environmental protection into account.
Many families suffered a lot due to this and they didn’t provide suitable rehabilitation either. This was used as the backdrop of this film,” says the actor.
Failures are mine
The actor says that even in his bad phase, he was never under pressure. “Yes, it’s been almost 10 years of failure. People want me to do something which I can’t. I can’t dance like Prabhu Deva, but they want me to dance and do many other things which are definitely not my strong areas. Instead of focussing on my strong points, they wanted me to do things I can’t. That’s the reason of failure. I told them, but they never listened to me,” he recalls.
The actor takes the responsibility of a film’s failure. “If a film fails I want to take the responsibility, because it’s a creative process,” he says. The actor reveals an interesting thing too. “You know, I was paid the highest during my bad phase, not when I was successful,” says the actor. “Life is bigger than cinema. Cinema is just a part of life, so I never take success or failure seriously,” he says.
Hindi release
The film was also released in Hindi. “People recognised me in Palestine and Malaysia because many of my films were dubbed in Hindi and were telecasted on TV. So, for such a big budget film, I wanted to use the Hindi market too,” he says.
‘Will continue producing films’
Though he won’t act any more, he will still make films under his production house Pawan Kalyan Creative Works. “Though I will focus on politics, my livelihood is films, so I will produce films but with young talent. Like I announced earlier, I will definitely produce a film with Charan, but my production is not only confined to my family members. I want to encourage young and new talent,” he says.
But he won’t make films with established actors. And he has a reason. “If the film is a big hit, that’s fine. But if it flops, people will say that I did it deliberately. So, no movies with big stars,” he says.
The actor shares cordial relation with all the actors. He says, “I met Jr NTR and Mahesh Babu and I have a good relationship with everyone, but no close friends from the industry.”
