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Hyderabad
February 7, 2008

Sumanth is a happy man by looking at the revenues of his latest film Pourudu which recovered it’s investment. Thanks to the fabulous openings it managed during the Sankranthi season. Pourudu is releasing in USA on 8 February. Idlebrain.com caught up with Sumanth for an exclusive chitchat -

Tell us about Pourudu. Were you confident about the success from the day one?
Yes. It was released on Sunday. The distributors (Suresh Movies) are happy with it’s revenues. We released the film on our own through Suresh Film Distributors on percentage basis. It is like our own distribution because D Suresh Babu is my father’s nephew.

How much did it collect?
It collected 6 crores of share so far. We spent around 6 crores on making and publicity of the film. If you add up the future collections, satellite rights and other benefits, Pourudu is poised to net around 12 crores. That is a very good profit.

Where did you get the maximum collections?
We started with 90 prints release. Later on we added 30 more prints to release in other states and some more centers in AP. This film collected the maximum in Ceded and it collected less in Nizam. Incidentally all my films have done really well in Ceded area compared to other areas. If you look at the center wise, the film is doing much better in B and C centers.

When you are getting such a good profits, why are you not announcing the figures?
I always underplay. I don’t like hyping things. But we are doing very good publicity for Pourudu film. Uncle D Rama Naidu said that we are doing publicity to Pourudu better than any film on Suresh Productions banner.

Since you tasted success with two home productions Satyam and Pourudu, why do you need other producers when you have infrastructure and system to make and release films on your own?
That is what I had been seriously contemplating these days. I want to do one film on my home banner for every 3 films. If we had not got good producer for my next film, I would have produced it. I enjoy being the producer and assistant director as much as I enjoy being an actor.

What did you like in Pourudu film?
I liked action sequences. It was the result of team work.

What did you not like in Pourudu?
I felt bad about gay comedy sequences. It is derogatory to homosexuals. I have lots of gay friends. I would not allow such type of comedy scenes in my future films.

I also feel that the base of the film should have been little tighter.

What made you feel good about Pourudu?
If you look at Pourudu, there are only three women in the film. I was little nervous that women might not find the film to be good. But the beautifully crafted father-son relationship made up for that aspect.

Since you realized that a good opening and more number of prints could increase the range of mass films, what is your next step?
I will release my next mass film with 150 prints.

What is your next project?
The next project is ready and announcement is around the corner. You got to wait. The heroine character in that film has got equal importance. And the makers are hunting for the right girl.