May 03, 2012 Y. Sunitha Chowdhary
The teasers of David Billa show Ajith Kumar performing daredevil stunts and precariously hanging from a chopper that makes one's heart pound faster. How did he do it? "No big deal, The Armed Forces do it every single day. They are my motivation. If they can do it, why can't we for a while?," replies a cool Ajith who is on a small vacation with his family.
The charming Ajith is striking back as Billa II soon in the last week of May or early June. If the film in Tamil is Billa II - The Beginning, in Telugu it has been titled as David Billa - The Beginning, as it is a prequel to Ajith's earlier film Billa which was directed by Vishnuvardhan. Nayanthara and Namitha played the lead roles in Billa that had Prabhas in the lead role. In Billa II, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Bruna Abdullah are sharing the screen space with Ajith where as Gabriela Bertante and Meenakshi Dixit are expected to sizzle in item numbers.
The actor who is known for doing negative roles many a time without any qualms says Billa II is a journey of the underdog. "I'm anxious to hear the people's verdict. We had many brain-storming sessions, even before Chakri Toleti came on board and we have decided to do something that people connect to Billa II. We liked Chakri's ideas but I don't want to share too much info.
I want people to see the film and see the difference for themselves..as an actor for me every film is important and can't afford to get partial to any movie but there is this scene which I can say is a once in a lifetime experience for me. The chopper scene which we shot for from three hundred metres, in minus eight degrees in Georgia, Eastern Europe."
He adds. "Films are entertainment for the public, but for me it is bread and butter. We are conscious of the fact that there should be no finesse associated with Billa as this time he is an underdog who is going to get there. The production values have not been compromised and we took nine months to wrap up the film though we shot for 110 days. We had time to space ourselves and shot in various locations-Gerogia, Vishakapatnam, Goa, Hyderabad, etc, travelled a lot."
What was the difference in terms of execution? Ajith says it isn't fair to put one director over the other and the idea is to enjoy different genres and working with different directors, they all are creative in their own way. "I always believed that when I look into sign a film, I always look in for compatibility, to be free, to be relaxed and to be able 2 speak, throw ideas, argue, fight and not to work the other person. One should be able to vibe well."
He signs off, "We made it in such a way that people would want to see the first part again if they missed out on something..that is the idea..for all we know we will be happy if Billa I would re-release because of Billa II."
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