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Hyderabad
May 15, 2008

Ravi C Kumar won Nandi award for best writer category twice. His last film Samanyudu got appreciated by everybody. His latest film Victory – a film on land mafia - features Nitin and Mamata Mohandas in the main leads. This film is releasing this month-end. Idlebrain.com met Ravi C Kumar for an interview. Here are the excerpts -

Tell us about your background?
I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. I joined advertising field after completing my B.Sc. I made several ad films. Then I directed around 20 serials for Padmalaya telefilms, DD and Gamini for over two years. I joined Bachelors film as a co-director under Sana Yadireddy.

My first film as a director was College. Later on I made another movie called Love. What changed my career was my third film ‘The End’ which was the production no.1 of RR Moviemakers. It has won Nandi awards in best writer and best film for national integration category. Abdul Kalam too watched the film and appreciated us.

My next film Samanyudu under the same RR Moviemakers banner brought me commercial success. It won Nandi awards for the best villain and best writer category.

Tell us about your latest film Victory?
Victory is my third consecutive film on RR Moviemakers banner. This film deals with issue of land mafia. Earlier, buying house was possible for a middle class man with all his life savings. Now buying a property is out of reach for a middle class man. The rentals have gone up exorbitantly. This film unearths the reasons behind it. This film also shows the organized crime done by some big shots in connivance with government, justice and police.

Victory is about the victory achieved by a bunch of post graduates led by Nitin over the organized crime. It is not a hero oriented film. This film’s hero is the story. As the tagline of the film ‘we for victory’, this film proves that one can win over such anti social elements when fought with unity.

Land mafia is the profession of the villains in most of the Telugu films released these days. How different is this film?
In most of the films, land mafia is just a bone of contention between hero and villain. But, in the film we are showing the root cause to the problem and tried to give a solution. The treatment of the film is nice blend of reality and commercialism.

Did you do any homework on land mafia?
Yes. I went to a couple of land mafia kingpins and spent a couple of days with them. I observed how they behave and implemented the similar kind of body language for Asutosh Rana in Victory. A couple of dons I met are extremely religious and I wondered how they kill people if they are so religious. I also met cops and politicians.

Tell us about the 6-pack body of Nitin?
He worked really hard and it shows up in the film. His image will change from the lover boy to that of an action hero with this film. He did a matured performance. As an actor he is very obedient and flexible.

A couple of stills resemble us of the 6-pack song from Om Shanti Om?
Yes. Nitin wanted such a kind of song. It came out really well.

Tell us about the songs?
All songs are situation driven in the film. The item song too has an important scene juxtaposed with it. Rachana Mourya did that item song.

Did you do any special screenplay for Victory?
I downloaded some screenplay books from internet and I learnt about different way of doing screenplay. I had the dialogues and sound effects in the screenplay even before we went to the floors.

Tell us about technical departments?
Vijay C Kumar’s cinematography is a huge asset. He created a mood for the film with his lighting technique. KV Krishna Reddy did some complicated editing by taking lot of time. He said that he never worked so hard for any other films after Ankusam and Ammoru.

What are your favorite films?
Titanic, Sholay, Chak De India, Rang De Basanthi and Lagaan.

RR Moviemakers is making continuous films with you?
I went to many producers with the script of ‘The End’. Nobody was interested in producing that film. It was producer Venkat who spotted talent in me and encouraged me. He has a taste for good films. He is my Godfather.

How rich is Victory movie?
The budget of Victory film is three times more than that of my earlier film Samanyudu. We shot the film over 90 working days and exposed 2.5 lakhs of negative. The first copy will be ready in a week.

When will Victory be released?
We are planning to release it by this month end.