August 28, 2012 Y. Sunitha Chowdhary
Dance master and director Raghavendra Lawrence looks very content and satisfied, he is just waiting for the release of his film Rebel starring Prabhas but has no idea of the release date. Ask him why the film took so long to wind up and he retorts, "There are many reasons for the delay but it is not appropriate to mention all of them in print. I can but reassure you that once the film releases you will hardly think of trivial issues and feel that the movie was worth it. I personally like Prabhas and I showed my affection for him on the screen."
The director says he narrated the storyline to Prabhas while the shooting of Kanchana was on. The story is tailor-made for him, his height and image and all you wanted to see is present in the story. In Kanchana the thrill element comes to life with the entry of Sarathkumar, here too in the latter half of the story a similar sense of excitement will be felt by the audience. It is a revenge formula like Kanchana.
I believe that if you had some aspect of the story, the curiosity heightens and the suspense factor is maintained. We have to always think of giving something new to the audience, they are a restless lot. Give them a remote and see how many channels they surf within a minute. We have to mesmerise them and that is quite a task."
Lawrence reveals that no director had ever shown Prabhas this way as he did in Rebel. The actor himself will begin to wonder if it is the real him. The second half has a sentiment scene that will rock and that is his particular favourite.
He adds, "I am not able to concentrate on other films as a choreographer..especially when I am busy with my scripts. My next film is Muni 3. I made the third part because it has a lot of potential, so much that part ten also can be made but there is no connection between the first and the second part just like the James Bond series have no relation.
In Rebel all the women have performance-oriented roles..whether the women agree or not to run around trees is a different story but the audience won't like it if you give them just a dance and a song..they want and they demand equal attention to heroines."
