'It is a huge task to kiss in front of so many people'

Kannada actor Chiranjeevi Sarja is in the horror comedy Chandralekha that will release across Karnataka today, March 7, 2014.

The film is a remake of the Telugu hit Prema Katha Chitram. It is directed by veteran film-maker N Omprakash Rao.

Chiranjeevi (Chiru to colleagues and fans) did not have much success with his previous film, Whistle.

In this interview, Chiranjeevi talks about Chandralekha and what led to the failure of his earlier film.

What is your role in Chandralekha and what is the film all about?

The film has elements of fun, fear and romance. People come to theatres mainly to be entertained. We have attempted to make people laugh with our loud mannerisms. There is also the fear factor.

People also want to see romance on screen. The film is about a guy who meets a girl when he wants to end his life. The girl dissuades him from the act and ends up falling in love with the guy.

The film is targeted at people of all ages. It is an unexpected love story.

What do you have to say about media reports of hot scenes and some explicit kissing scenes?

There is nothing of that sort because otherwise I wouldn’t be saying that the film is targeted at people of all ages.

If there was something so blatant, I am sure the censors would not have allowed it for public exhibition.

You went on record to say that you are game for kissing on screen but a lip-lock is an absolute no…What do you mean by this?

The reason I said so was because of the pressure and anxiety that I underwent during the Varadhanayaka shoot.

It is a huge task to kiss in front of so many people on the sets.

My heartbeat went berserk on the day I was supposed to kiss the heroine. We are not from that kind of a culture nor are we exposed to it.

It was also said that the heroine coaxed you into doing the scene...

She encouraged me to do the scene well. She is from London and she had no bones to pick. My hands were trembling and I became red-faced out of anxiety.

At that moment she supported me. Had she not done so, the scene would have turned into a blunder. The scene looked better on screen because of her encouragement.

What was it like working with a senior director like Omprakash Rao who is said to be a hard taskmaster?

I should thank him for making us all comfortable and for planning it to the last detail.

He was surprisingly calm on the sets. But he was adamant about what he wanted from us.

He is a hardcore commercial film-maker who doesn’t compromise on production values. We were in for some surprises when we went for dubbing as he had canned some unusual shots without us realising it.

He made me feel comfortable. At times he would just walk out after canning the shot without giving us feedback on whether the scene was up to the mark.

Whenever I asked him how I should do a scene, he would encourage me to do it the way I felt comfortable, but without compromising on what he wanted.

What went wrong with your last film Whistle?

I think audiences could not digest or understand the climax of the movie.

Although the film was appreciated by critics, people in general could not probably understand the ending which they thought was abrupt.

When we saw the Tamil original, Pizza, we were kind of excited by the twists and turns. But it probably did not excite the Kannada audience as much.

In Chandralekha I have corrected the mistakes that I made in Whistle.