Aadi Sai Kumar is out of the holiday mood and is back to work. We ask him about the festivities that recently wound up and he is more than willing to talk about it and also his cute daughter Ayaana, aged six who loves festivals. Y.Sunita Chowdhary of Klapboardpost.com, speaks to the actor about his Diwali which was well spent and his up and coming film Black. He says, “Ayaana loves festivals and gets excited when there is an entire family around, be it any festival but Diwali in particular she is full of beans.” The little one watches films but feels shy seeing her father’s movies; she is aware he is an actor. How did the pandemic change Aadi’s perspective of viewing cinema in general? Aadi says he always had a good impression on OTT platforms and observes that due to that, most people in the industry are busy, employed and the studios are buzzing with activity. He quips, “While I was getting ready to dub for Atidhi Devobhava, I was not able to find a dubbing studio. It makes me happy in fact to know everyone is busy. There is a lot of content around and we know content is the king. If it is good, people hunt for it and watch it. Now what I am working on is a good content oriented cinema by Shiv Shankar from a film school. He had narrated a beautiful story and this one seems challenging and new. OTT has its own importance and a wide audience, and there is definitely a way to judge the popularity of the show or a cinema. People talk about a particular film, obviously they are smart, they know which film has to be seen at which place. Akshay Kumar’s Suryavamsi is a theatrical project. It created an impact on the big screen and the audience knows for sure that it is supposed to be watched on the big screen. Some films are scheduled to strike theatres but people wait for it to come on OTT. They know where to pick and see.”
He adds, “If you need an outing, cinema is an experience. Home theatres are something that all don’t possess. Around seventy percent of people, I learn, watch it on mobile phones. These are all OTT films. Phones have become an integral part of our lives, even while we talk to someone, our attention shifts to mobiles. We are constantly wanting to be updated. I don’t know what 2022 has in store for us but I am optimistic despite a fear of a third wave striking us. People are vaccinated, there isn’t much fear but we need to be a bit careful at least for the next six months.” About Black and the role he is playing, Aadi says, “I am a night patrolling officer so we named the film Black. The character I am playing is actually a constable, who keeps vigil in residential areas and there happens to be a crime. It is a thriller that engages. There is a murder, a robbery in a colony, how he cracks the crime is the story and it is also about who committed the crime. GB Krishna who worked for Puri Jagan has designed the story well. He worked on Temper too. This crime thriller also has a dialogue referring to a Puri Jagan film. We finished the film quickly in 34 days. The director has complete clarity and he finished it as per schedule. It is a suspense filled story and there are few moments which really give you a high.” Aadi also did Tees Maar Khan which is almost completed. It is a commercial film that has a strong emotion. He is also committed to a film to be produced by KK Radhamohan’s film, an entertaining love story. Phani is the new director and the project will begin in January.
Finally we ask him how he chooses his films, i.e the ones he intends to watch on OTT, and also about his opinion on remake films, he says, “I watch films that are trending, some are recommended by friends. If I read a good review and people are talking about it, I watch it. In the remakes, the scene to scene stuff is boring, it should be tweaked and then it gets entertaining. The remake film Don by Shahrukh Khan was mind blowing, the climax twist was something we didn’t see coming. The climax difference paid off. For big stars it might work in theatres but not for others and also in some years the remakes will come down as people are watching all the originals on OTT platforms. It won’t be that easy making remakes. As actors we shall always be excited to try something new but the same to the same, dialogue to dialogue is for big stars and for their fans. It becomes a job, a task, a routine thing if we work in a remake. It will bore you.”
