Chandra Sekhar Yeleti in awe of Mohanlal

National award-winning director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti’s upcoming movie Manamantha was already in the news for being a bilingual anthology film starring Mohanlal and Gauthami.

The director, who made a mark in 2003 with his debut film Aithe, which bagged a National Award, went on to make Anukokunda Oka Roju, which secured a couple of Nandi Awards.

The Midas of Tollywood has carved a  niche of his own, with films like Okkadunnadu, Prayanam and Sahasam. Despite not being the regular six-songs-action-packed masala entertainers, his movies became commercially successful. Manamatha, too, has surprises in store.

“The story is about the incidents in the lives of four people. Anthology films are not new now, but my human drama needed multiple stories, so I narrated it this way. The pre-climax and climax are very important as the characters get connected at that time. The screenplay is very important and I feel, it will come out very well,” says Chandra Sekhar.

After completing the script, Chandra Sekhar felt Mohanlal would be the best choice for the role. “I have never spoken to him or met him. We got his appointment through art director Sabu Cyril, but he said he was busy  and was not free for eight months. However, I requested him to listen to my story. Once he did, he immediately gave me his dates,” he says.

“I was awestruck to see him in front of the camera. He is a legend, an extremely talented and  gifted actor. The superstar is an all-rounder. He is a singer, businessman, and an army general, but still so down to earth,” he says.

Chandra Sekhar’s Aithe was remade in Malayalam as Wanted and Lal had played the inspector’s role in it.

Since Lal is playing the main role, Manamantha is being made in Malayalam too. “We also roped in some Mollywood actors to replace the Telugu actors for the Malayalam version. Mohanlal helped me a lot for the Malayalam version,” says the director. The movie will also be dubbed in Tamil, where Lal and Gauthami are popular.

Asked why he has made just six films in 13 years, Chanda Sekhar says, “A few projects have been cancelled midway. The delay is because I write stories for all my films.”

“Now, I have decided to take other’s stories too so that I can speed up a bit,” he says, adding that his movies are inspired by incidents he has seen or read. “After the action film Sahasam, I wanted to make an emotional drama; thus Manamantha. Everyone can relate to the story,” says Chandra Shekhar.