The Paradise’ will meet the expectations of the audience. The mass and action theater will be amazing. A character like Jadal has never appeared in Telugu cinema before. The film I worked on the hardest in my career is Paradise. Paradise’s action-emotional audience will watch it with shock value. Family audiences will connect a lot with the emotion of Mother Son. Director Srikanth has designed an emotional action that will shake the theater: Natural Star Nani
Natural Star Nani’s Pan India period action entertainer ‘The Paradise’. Directed by Srikanth Odela, Sudhakar Cherukuri produced this film on a grand scale under the banner of SLV Cinemas. The songs, glimpses and teaser that have already been released have raised huge expectations with a wonderful response. The film will be released worldwide on September 24. On this occasion, Natural Star Nani shared the highlights of the film at a press conference.
September has been good to you, hasn’t it? -My career started in September. ‘Ashta Chamma’ was released in September. ‘Bhale Bhale Magadivoy’ also came out in September. Now I believe that that hit sentiment will work out for ‘Paradise’.
What did you think when you heard about the character of Jadal? -That’s the look that came from the story. It felt very new to me. All the roles I’ve played so far have been very relatable and feel like a familiar person. The character in this is not someone who grew up in general society. You’ll understand what that is when you watch the movie. That character has a madness from the beginning. The audience sees that character with a shock value. In fact, such a character is very new in Telugu. That character is still fresh on me.
Your films are aimed at a family audience. What will this film be like? -This is a movie that all family audiences can watch. The mother-son emotion is amazing. It has everything you would expect from a commercial movie. Families can watch it together happily.
What will Anirudh’s background score be like? We did ‘Jersey’ and ‘Gang Leader’. This film gave us the opportunity to hold the background score from the beginning to the end and hold it. He did it twice out of a hundred. Srikanth-Anirudh is a killer combination. Songs like ‘Aya Sher’ and ‘Eshu Nagula Katta’ were possible because of them.
What about Mohan Babu’s character? When Srikanth narrated the story, Mohan Babu said that it would be good. Otherwise, I doubt whether he would do this character or not. Because it is a very negative, brutal character. Srikanth went to Mohan Babu to tell the story. He felt very excited. I was shocked to see that. Mohan Babu was the first person who believed that this would be a big movie when he heard this story. There are some things he does as a villain in it. The audience will definitely be shocked to see all of them.
What about Pan India promotions? The content of this film has reached all regions. It has been received very well. Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam audiences are giving it a lot of love. That is why I will not compromise on the dubbing at all. That is the minimum respect we give to the love they give. It will be released in all languages with excellent quality.
Isn’t this the most action-packed of your films? Action in movies came as a moment somewhere as part of the story. It was not something that could be projected as action. Otherwise, as an actor, you have to explore all kinds. I am not very interested in making a good action movie. I like to tell a good story and have action in it. ‘Paradise’ has action in the story itself. Every action in it starts with an emotion. There is an emotion behind every blow.
You danced a lot for the first time in your career, didn’t you? In Srikanth’s eyes, I am a great dancer (laughs). He says that if Nivvu dances, he will be intoxicated. He enjoys it a lot when I dance. I wanted to do it for Srikanth. His belief came true. After the songs were released, everyone was surprised. They celebrated very well. I enjoyed it. In two of the songs, the dancing is not like it was done away from the film. It is a situation. Another song is coming in this. Before ‘Aya Sher’ and ‘Eshu Nagula’, the song ‘Anjana Anjani’ was played on loop in my car and phone. It is a beautiful song. It will be released soon.
What about mother sentiment? When we released our glimpses, we started with a story of a mother telling her son. Even in the teaser, we cut to the main element of the mother. The film starts with the emotion of the mother and ends with the mother. That emotion stays in the mind. It gives you a hangover experience. ‘Paradise’ doesn’t leave your mind for three or four days.
Is ‘Paradise’ about place? This is a story about a tribe called Savari in a place called ‘Paradise’. There, the Savari have no identity. No one cares about their existence. Even if they are killed, they will not even file a case. A rebellion for identity. It is between the 1984-85 timeline. When we watch the movies ‘Salar’ and ‘KGF’, regardless of whether those areas exist or not, we relate to the world shown there. The ‘Paradise’ in it also gives us such a feeling. It gives us a feeling of relating. When we watch the movie, we go into the world of paradise. We get immersed in the world of paradise.
How will Srikanth’s treatment be? Srikanth enjoys mass commercial moments as an audience. No matter what he does, he unconsciously sees how the audience will react in the theater. When he looks at the monitors, he only approves a take when he feels that there will be a reaction in the theater. One day, when a scene is good, he comes to me and says, ‘Let the theater rock.’ That is his belief. He considers the mass as a god. Srikanth has mass in his veins. That mass connects with the audience.
He shot one or two episodes in a very radical way. They are my favorite episodes. The audience will be very surprised and shocked when they see them.
You did a lot of the risky shots yourself. We heard that you got injured as a result? I like it and have the patience. I did it all myself. Maybe after another 15 years I will give it to the dupe (laughs). I can’t enjoy it if I dupe. That’s my problem. I tell everyone in the direction department that whether it’s a leg shot or a shot where a hand is visible in the film, I will do it myself. If you look at it on the screen and think, ‘Oh.. this is a dupe shot’, I can’t take that compliment as genuine.
How did it feel to act with braids? Everyone was surprised by that look. There is a reason for every detail in it. You can see the traces of riding in it. If you force someone to get a tattoo, it’s like they’ve been riding. Similarly, a broken nose, a chain, everything has an importance. It takes an hour and forty minutes to apply makeup. It takes 20 minutes to remove makeup again. Sometimes we shot for 36 hours straight. The scalp would turn red inside.
-‘Paradise’ is the film with the most challenging action blocks in my career. This will be the case in the future as well. Because I may do more action but I won’t work harder than this. Because of these braids. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to do action with these braids. There is a lot of rope work in this entire film. While doing action, I used to wrap myself around the braid rope. Seeing my difficulty, the fight masters felt sorry for me and wondered how I was actually enduring this difficulty.
What about Raghav’s character? His body language in this is very light-hearted. But at times he is very brutal. In this, Raghav’s moment in the theater is very enjoyable. Also, Sampu Biryani’s character is also very different.
What about the heroine’s character? The heroine’s character in this story is very solid. The emotional story arc in the second half is very important. It’s a very surprising role.
What is your son’s reaction to cheese? He is currently listening to the songs of ‘Paradise’. He also performed the song ‘Eshu Nagula’ for Vinayaka Chavithi.
How did your mother feel when she saw you in this controversial character? My mother doesn’t like me doing violent films. She tells me to do happy films with a bit of flowery, girly style, like in the movie ‘Julayi’ (laughs).
How is the producer doing with the final output? He is very happy with the output and business. We all put in the pressure to release it on time. Everyone worked 24 hours a day. The film had already been postponed once or twice. This time, we all worked tirelessly to deliver it on time and without compromising on quality.
Director Srikanth, you made an open statement regarding time management.. will it affect your career? What effect will it have? Has the delay in ‘Pushpa’ affected Sukumar’s career? A career is only affected when a quality product is not delivered, not because of the delay. Srikanth has never compromised in delivering a quality product. If there is a delay in delivering a quality product, it will not harm his career. Only the result decides his career.
Who did you enjoy acting with the most? The action in this is fun to watch but not so much to do (laughs). Every day, Srikanth would take the mud or rain and throw it into something. It would be nice to see it on screen. But not to do it (laughs).
How did it feel to perform Keerthy Suresh’s song? We had already worked together. Working together again now felt like a reunion.
-Sonali garu did a wonderful job in the mother character. In this, the mother’s role was made as difficult as the hero’s hard work. In various places like rain, mud, etc., she cooperated without complaining anywhere, allocating as much time as needed. She is her best choice for this film. She gets a lot of praise.
-All the action sequences that take place at night are amazing. Srikanth has written the fight as a scene. He has designed each scene to give a visual impact.
-The audience is coming to the theater with high expectations. Our entire team is confident that we will satisfy them all.
All the best. -Thank you.
