May 15, 2011 Y. Sunitha Chowdhary
"Telugu audiences love their heroes to appear stunning, well-dressed and do heroic acts," remarks Jeeva, whose Tamil movie Ko has been released as Rangam. That is one reason why he had delayed his debut in a straight Telugu film; all the while he's been doing intense characters in Tamil movies which took a year or more to complete and most of them were rugged, violent characters that wouldn't appeal to a larger audience here, for example E had him sporting stains on his teeth, rust coloured hair and totally negative attitude and he played a refugee from Sri Lanka in Rameswaram.
No wonder his first two dubbed projects Siva Manasala Sakthi and E tanked. Despite being producer RB Chowdary's son, the actor is level-headed, doesn't take his position for granted or get carried away by flattery. He says as a matter of fact that women have started giving him importance only after Ko's worked big time.
Ask him if he is averse to doing love stories as he holds a reputation of doing offbeat subjects, Jeeva begs to differ. He says, "I don't like to give you an impression that I'm a man of intellect and I work only in sensible films, I would love to trip over on any script that is fun and interesting." Fourteen films old, the smart and vulnerable looking Jeeva grew up wanting to be a very technical person, a cinematographer but he found his call in acting. Ever since he's treated the industry as a school and went through each day as a lesson.
There are people who are crazy to appear at least in one frame in a movie and here I'm an actor travelling all over the world, staying in the best hotels, eating the best food and interacting with people from various cultures. What else can I ask for he questions with a tone filled with content and happiness.
Jeeva is currently excited about his three upcoming films Rowthiram, a complete action movie, he dispels rumours that Vanthaan Vendraan is a remake of I Hate Luv Storys, the second film and the final one is Nanban, a remake of 3 Idiots that has him playing the role of Sharman Joshi.
He disputes when you tell him that 3 Idiots has been watched a zillion times by Indians and a remake wouldn't get the same response. Jeeva opines, "Only 10 to 20% have seen the original in Tamil Nadu, the A class audience might have seen it but I have a friend a chartered accountant whose kids have seen the Hindi film at least a 100 times but he told me he is going to book the tickets for the family much in advance.
It's a story that doesn't tire you, has a good moral to offer and would guarantee good openings for the casting. There is such a huge cast that the names won't fit on the poster. Director SJ Surya is also there in Javed Jaffrey's shoes and Ileana whose so choosy about Tamil films is back."
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