Team ‘Garuda Vega’ on Friday interacted with the media ahead of the racy action movie’s release on Nov 3rd.
The event began with the presentation of a making video, which also introduced the various characters of the film. The film’s hero, Dr. Rajasekhar, reminded that the Teaser has got 7 million views, while the Trailer has got more than this figure.
Sunny Leone, who has done the special song titled ‘Deo Deo’ in this entertainer, was the biggest star attraction. She not only jived for ‘Deo Deo’ for a moment but also blew a kiss, much to the audiences’ delight.
Jeevitha said, “We started out with a budget of Rs. 5 Cr. But, as days passed, the producer, M Koteswara Raju garu, didn’t compromise anywhere. An underwater sequence could have been shot in India. But he was fine with doing it in Georgia. An action sequence could have been shot in India, but he said let’s do in Bangkok. There are rumours that our financiers are not happy. There is no truth in it. Come what may, we are arriving on Nov 3rd. Unaffected by rumours, distributors in the US are already ready to holding 100 premieres. We were in a bad phase and did bad films. But now, we are coming with a film which everyone will love to watch.”
Producer Koteswara Raju said, “I have got a wide experience of working with various MNCs around the world. I knew that this investment will not go waste as the director is pretty much focussed. I didn’t think about Rajasekhar garu’s market while investing this much (more than Rs. 25 Cr). We thank our financier, Sudhakar Reddy garu, for the support. Jeevitha garu is the film’s backbone.”
Adith Eswaran, who has a key role in the movie, said that a day’s shoot in Georgia had cost Rs. 1 Cr. When it was not enough, another day’s shoot had to be called for. And another Rs. 1 Cr was to be spent on it. “I haven’t come across such a thing ever,” he said.
Rajasekhar said, “My mother was very happy that our Teaser got five million views in five days. But she died the next day. I had been on cloud nine before that. I lost prime properties in Chennai when I did movies that didn’t suit me. My mother was worried that I would end up in losses like many people in this industry. My dad advised me against doing films. So, I left everything to luck and started reading up medical books. Then, someone came to me with a villain’s role. This was pretty ordinary. I heard out 30-40 scripts, all of which were ordinary. Then one day came Praveen Sattaru, the superman. He is one of the key pillars of this movie.”
The actor further said, “We have done this movie with a passion for cinema. Being an MBBS grad, I have become an actor out of passion. I urge you all to come to watch this movie only in theatres. I am told that my movies get a lot of TRPs on TV. Women like my movies. But ‘GV’ must be watched only in a theatre.”
About Praveen Sattaru, the hero said that he can make anyone do anything. “When he asked me to do a stunt by jumping into water, I told him that it’s not possible in the cold climate of Georgia. He then showed it to me by doing that himself.”
Sunny Leone said, “I love Hyderabad a lot. There is craziness around but everybody has a smile. As for why I did ‘Deo Deo’ song in this movie, it’s an amazing number. Vishnu Dev (dance choreographer) has done a fantastic job and it was great fun working with this team. I love to work down South. It’s quite professional and there is lot of drama on the sets.”
Praveen Sattaru said, “We felt that we had done a clean movie and expected a ‘U’ from the Censor. ‘GV’ is a fun, family entertainer. But the Board came up with five cuts. Had such standards been followed during the times of T Krishna (director), he couldn’t have made films like ‘Prathighatana’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. How is it wrong if a police officer’s character is called a rapist? Just because he is not a government officer, should a film not have such dialogues?”
The director was all praise for his entire team. “Kishore as George is quite chilling. We worked with CV Kumar (Annapurna Studios) for eight months on DI and Vfx,” he said.
Pooja Kumar said, “This was a great team to work with. The whole world is looking at India. We have great stories to tell the people. When we support each other, we will become grat. We all have a responsibility for standing up for each other (regarding censoring issues).”
Kishore said, “It was like working with a big family. We did face a lot of problems during the shoot. I couldn’t say no to Jeevitha garu’s request for extra dates. It’s the director who made me look so ferocious.”
Prudhvi said, “I had worked with Rajasekhar garu for ‘Evadaithe Nakenti’ many years ago. When it comes to showing emotions, nobody is like him. When he was speaking about his mother, I got emotional. Nobody who has reverence to ones mother will ever lose in life. I am playing a doctor who womanizes in this film.”
Shatru said, “I have done a distinct role in the movie. I was told that I wouldn’t have much dialogues to speak. I was shocked to see myself on the screen.”
Charan Deep said, “I was initially cast for a negative role. When I was busy with my marriage works, I got a call from Jeevitha garu and was told that I would be doing a positive role. I feel blessed to have got to act with her.”
Anji, the film’s cinematographer, said, “I have worked with a director who has ‘satta’ in his name. Ever since the teaser was released, I have got a number of offers.”
Editor Dharmendra said, “I had done four movies with Praveen before this one. And this one film is more than equal to those four in terms of the experience gained.”
CV Kumar said, “It took us more than 800 hours to do the Digital Intermediary work. Praveen gave us 2000 shots to work on. It’s from him that I worked how to measure things pixel by pixel. He is that meticulous. On Vfx, a team of 55 members worked for 7 months. Praveen’s films are visually superb for a reason. He gives a lot of importance to post-production.”
Lyricist Krishna Kanth, who wrote an emotional number for this film, came in for praise from the hero. “I was told by someone that every married person should listen to the song,” Rajasekhar said.
Art director Srikanth said, “I loved this crew. I respected this script. That’s why I could give it my all.”
Shraddha Das said that the film’s script is the biggest thing.
