Manchu Manoj Kumar, who entered Tollywood with ‘Donga Dongadhi’ continued his journey with ups and downs before hitting a jackpot ‘Bindaas’. But the actual break in his career came with the film 'Nenu Meeku Telusa'. That fetched him good friends and now he is busy with handful of films with two of them about to be released. One being ‘Vedam’ by Krish and the other ‘Jhummandi Nadam’ by K Raghavendra Rao. His movie releases are the birthday gifts for him who celebrated his birthday on May 20th. On this occasion he shared a few moments with the press.
Manchu Manoj said that “Movie is my passion right from my childhood which scored over my studies but it took quite some time to reach a success platform with ‘Bindaas’ which is achieved after failures. With 100th day of ‘Bindaas’ approaching shortly I must thank everyone for the year that has given me a great success. This happiness is further multiplied by my active roles in the movies like ‘Vedam’, that is going to release shortly and ‘Jhummandi Nadam’.”
On his role in ‘Vedam’ in which he co-acted with Allu Arjun he said, “It is generally wrong to say that egos play vital role in accepting or rejecting multi-starrer films. No doubt the ego is part of everybody’s life, even you and me, and actors need not be separated. Well, when it comes to multi-starrer, it is generally the script and the role that matters which many times get fine tuned due to circumstances. So the directors at times are not in a position to maintain what is promised in the beginning. But this is the story of the past. Now things are different. There is better understanding and one knows very well what is his role and portion. In my case in ‘Vedam’ I’m aware of things very clearly and I never had any issues doing that part even if it is for a short span of time in the movie. Infact ‘Vedam’ is a very different movie where five different characters play their roles and ultimately reach a focal point where all of them have certain commanality making the movie further interesting. I’m satisfied with my role. Krish had further glorified the movie’s quality with his fantastic concept. It’s really a child’s play for him since it was a sincere desire to bring out whatever he dreamt of and that is the reason you will not find serious commercial elements in the movie.”
On songs in 'Vedam' he is of the opinion that the songs are on the lips of everybody even before the movie is released and exhibited confidence that the audience once they see the songs the impact will be much more.
On his co-stars in Vedam he was quick to say, “Allu Arjun, who has entertained his fans with his action packed performances is bringing out a real personality in him in this movie, so one would see a very different Allu Arjun in this film. It is really a challenging role for Anushka to portray a prostitute. This is the first time she has taken up one such role with great confidence. In general established heroines find it unnecessary to take such roles and Anushka’s bold attempt has been widely appreciated. She has taken the role very seriously and given her best.”
On his roles in his two current films he said, “My role in both the films due for release is that of a singer. One in ‘Vedam’ brings out a rock-star in me and the other extracts that of a classical singer from Bhadrachalam.”
When asked about his best experience in doing ‘Jhummandi Nadam’ he said, “It is fantastic to work with K Raghavendra Rao who has special abilities to extract the best out of anyone with his clear ideas and understandable expressions as well as way of presentation.”
On his future plans he said, “My forth coming film is ‘O Kodataara Ulikki Padataara’ under the direction of Rajasekhar who worked with Krishna Vamsi in the past. This film will be released with subtitles in English, Hindi and all South Indian languages.”
On his inspiration, “My dad has always been my inspiration. He is my role model for trying different films and experimenting with different roles. My goal is to become a complete actor and not a star. I’m ready for roles in negative shades. Very soon I will let you know the details about that film too.”
