Manchu Manoj is upbeat as his film Gunturodu is releasing this coming Friday. “It’s a commercial film and the story takes place in Guntur, hence the title,” says Manoj, adding, “The story revolves around the ego problems between the villain and the protagonist. Sampath plays the villain and he is a very good actor. It encouraged me to do more along with him.”
Though the plan was to release the film in the last week of February, they didn’t get many theatres. “We expected 20 to 30 theatres more, but we didn’t get them, so we waited. In the meantime, we also made some corrections in the music,” shares Manoj.
The actor says that he always tries to do different kinds of cinema. “If you look at all my films in the past, I tried something different and new. Though some films did well, some didn’t. But I never bother about the success or failure of my films, as I don’t take any pressure. By God’s grace, I am working continuously, with several projects,” he says.
The actor says that all the seniors and his father motivate him to do different kinds of cinema. “My father has seen many highs and lows. When he delivered a hit, many cars would be parked in front of our house and when the film failed, there were very few. It is all a part of life and my aim is to do good work. I am not confined to play only lead roles, I am ready to play any kind of role, even a villain,” says Manoj.
Talking about his co-star Pragya Jaiswal, he says, “She is one of the best actresses that I have worked with till now.” He reveals, “It was always fun on the sets as we were a young and aspiring team, including the director, producer and other technicians. Sometimes, we would wake up early in the morning and start shooting.”
The actor is very angry about the incident about the Malayalam actress. “If you switch on the TV, there are many such scary incidents happening with women. They are not even leaving small kids and it’s quite worrying. I am focussing more on these issues this year and am planning a film on atrocities against women,” says the actor, adding, “We are blessed that we had more women in our school than male students. Even at my house, we were taught how to respect a woman. I am definitely going to focus on this subject this year.”
Talking about Chiranjeevi giving the voice-over for Gunturodu, Manoj says, “Initially, I sent a message to Charan for his voice-over, but he was out of town and was returning to the city only ten days later. However, we needed it urgently. Since my father and Chiranjeevi uncle go for breakfast on weekends, I told my father that I would come along one day. During the breakfast, I requested Chiranjeevi uncle to do the voice-over and explained that it was a commercial film and we needed a big name to narrate the story.”
Although Chiranjeevi was busy with his TV show, he agreed to do the voice-over. “The next day, he called to inform that he already recorded the voice-over and asked me to check it. It’s an awesome gesture from the megastar,” says Manoj.
Potugadu is the highest grosser for Manoj, but he says that he never watched the film again. “I did that film as I really needed a commercial hit. When I show my work to my sons and grandsons, I want them to watch films like Prayanam, Bindas and Vedam, but not Potugadu,” he reveals.
