Jagapathi Babu, who has tasted his first success this year through ‘Jai Bolo Telangana’ is celebrating his 49th birthday today (February 12). On this occasion he shared some of his views about his film journey with the media. Some excerpts are:
On celebrating his birthday Jagapathi Babu said, “For me as an actor, rebirths have exceeded birthdays because whenever I used to figure out that my career is coming to an end I would hit the bulls-eye. From this year onwards I decided to do atleast 10 films a year. I’m also excited about reaching the milestone of my 100th film which I’m sure is going to be in this year only although I can’t predict how it’s going to be.
On his latest release ‘Jai Bolo Telangana’: There are positive responses everywhere for my latest release ‘Jai Bolo Telangana’. Initially I went through lot of confusions whether to do this film or not. Even my family went against it. But as an actor all I wanted to do is to act. The people of Andhra are kind hearted and I’m sure they will accept the mistakes. They have accepted me despite delivering 12 continuous flops and brought me this far of reaching my 100th film also.
On failure of Ghayam 2: ‘Ghayam 2’ is a good movie and hence I had my hopes on that film. The film was a commercial hit, but since its budget was too high it could not earn profits. I involved myself in the production of this film but I had very less knowledge about the realistic view of film business. Therefore we failed to make profits as expected.
On choice of films: Earlier I used to be very particular about the films I did. But of late I am following the thought process of directors and producers. Now I’ve decided to choose the best among the offers and do as many films as possible in short periods. That is one of the reasons why I don’t want to do films that take longer time to shoot. We should try to cut down the needless expenditure and complete the shootings as quickly as possible. At the same time priority for quality should be given. Only then will the producer be on safer side.
Regarding songs and fights: I will give less preference for films that have four fights and six songs. According to me two fights in a film will not only save the producer’s money but also the time. Similarly I know my dancing abilities, so I don’t want to do dance steps that look like exercise. I’m not particular about how a film should be as long as the final output is good and delivers good results.
On doing negative roles: In Bollywood, Aamir Khan is getting ready to be seen as an antagonist. I also do not mind doing the negative role provided I get one such role.
On his film journey: I once again wanted to do family oriented films. But my film journey varied from period to period like after ‘Subhalagnam’ I did ‘Ghayam’. My present films are ‘Kshetram’, ‘Chattam’, Nagaram Nidra Pothunna Vela’, ‘Key’, etc.
On his latest flick Chattam: ‘Chattam’ is a very good conceptual film. This film depicts the feelings of Indians who wanted Kasab to be hanged. I’m doing the role of an angry police officer who demands for hanging Kasab immediately. The movie’s highlights are the action sequences and the dialogues.
He concluded by saying, “I’ve not spoken against any region. ‘Jai Bolo Telangana’ is my first success in this year. My other films like ‘Kshetram’, ‘Nagaram Nidra Pothunna Vela’ and ‘Key’ are all being made with different concepts and my characterization in each of these films is also different.
