Unfair to blame me for airline’s mistakes: Ram Charan

For the upcoming film Bruce Lee, Ram Charan, who plays a stunt man, trained in martial arts for a month in Bangkok. Talking about his father Chiranjeevi’s cameo in the film, he says, “It was director Srinu Vaitla’s idea and he approached my father and narrated the character. My dad was convinced and he agreed to do the role,” says Charan.

He adds that the character needed a star with a huge image. “If my father hadn’t accepted it, we would have to rework the script or remove the scenes,” says the actor.

“My earlier film didn’t have much action and it was an easy job for me,” says Charan, adding, “But this film had a lot of action scenes and for the flexibility of the character, I got trained,” says Charan. “I have never had as many injuries as I got during this film.”

Chiranjeevi’s cameo will come in the second half of the film. “We are all very excited, but it was a mixed emotion for us. When my father wore make-up and got ready for the shoot, my mother had tears in her eyes because it had been so long. I went early to the sets and looked at his costumes and I only suggested the beard as he looks like he did in his earlier blockbuster Gang Leader,” says Charan.

Though Srinu wanted to see Chiranjeevi in a song, Charan was against the idea. “Though they wanted a song, I was against it. He will soon be coming up with his 150th film and this film is like a teaser for it so I avoided the song,” he says.

Father and son will be seen riding horses in the particular scene, and Charan says, “I used my regular horse (a black one) which I had used in Magadheera and my father used a white horse. We were all tensed because the horse was a bit wild. I also told my father to use another horse, but he rode that one and it went like a bullet. We wondered how the camera would capture the scene as the horse went very fast but in the end, the scene came out very well.”

Charan adds that there’s no point in talking about the short gap between Rudhramadevi and his film. “Gunasekhar (Rudhramadevi’s director) approached me and asked about it but I told him to ask producer Danayya. But we had announced our film’s release date in February. And no one knew when their film would release. If they had come up with a clear date well in advance, there could be a chance. But our family supported his film as my father gave the voiceover and Allu Arjun did a cameo. It’s unfortunate and we never expected this kind of a situation,” he says.

He cites the examples of Rajamouli’s request to Mahesh, and the latter’s request to the Kick 2 producers. “Even Srinu Vaitla had requested me to postpone the release date of my earlier film for his Aagadu and I had moved it by another week,” he says, adding that there’s always co-operation in the industry.

When asked about Dasari’s comments that a big star’s film need not release on a festival day as any day on which the star’s film release becomes a festival day, Charan answers, “All those words are good to hear, but it is not practical.”

He had earlier announced that Puri Jagannadh would direct his father’s 150th film. Things have changed since then and when asked whether Puri was upset with the change of plans, especially since he heard from the media that he was out of the project, Charan says, “No. We had told him directly and had conveyed the message to him. Maybe he is busy with his film Loafer, but we had intimated him.”

Talking about his future plans, Charan says that he has agreed to do the remake of Thani Oruvan directed by Surender Reddy, while his next film is with director Gautham Menon.

He adds that he sorely needs a break. “I’ll first go to Kerala to set my body right, as I have body pains,” he laughs.

Regarding the row over the alleged worse services of the airlines for which he is the brand ambassador, Charan says, “Several actors endorse many products, but why is everyone talking about me alone regarding the airlines. I’m just the brand ambassador. Why should action be taken against Amitabh Bachchan for endorsing Maggie? Anyway, I have spoken to the airlines people to look into those complaints.”

His friends Allu Arjun and Tarak have become fathers. What about him? “I still need time. I need a lot more time to become mature,” Charan says.