If icon star Allu Arjun bagged the national award for best acting in 'Pushpa,' some credit should also go to Tollywood's reigning director Sukumar, who is a master in extracting performances from top Telugu stars even in commercial entertainers. He does a fine balancing act, where he showcases the anger and heroism of stars effortlessly.
On the other hand, he also makes them look down-to-earth and express their pain and anguish, besides shedding a few tears to showcase their acting skills along with their usual heroic acts.
Actually, after doing cute love stories like 'Arya,' director Sukumar teamed up with superstar Mahesh Babu for '1 Nenokkadine' and showed him in a new light. Mahesh showcased his brooding anger and anguish in search of his parents. Eventually, it turned out to be a performance-centric film for superstar Mahesh Babu. "Sukumar has got this rare and special quality of blending artistic values in commercial cinema, which is quite a challenging task. Earlier, big stars had to do films with veteran directors like K Viswanath and Bapu to bag awards. But now, Sukumar has changed the game and invented new avatars for top heroes," says producer Ram Achanta, who made '1 Nenokodine'.
Sukumar also showcased Jr NTR's acting prowess in 'Nanakku Prematho' and transformed Ram Charan into a simple village guy in 'Rangasthalam,' and notably, both the stars drew huge appreciation for their histrionic skills. "He designs characters in such a way that stars will look quite different in his films and become relatable and lovable characters, far away from their earlier films. In fact, Sukumar spends a lot of time with actors and tries to make them understand the nuances of their role, and eventually, they come up with sterling performances without compromising on heroism," adds Ram.
Sukumar's career rose a notch up following the worldwide blockbuster 'Pushpa,' and he is being noticed by Bollywood stars, too. "He has joined the league of top directors and is among the top three directors in India for delivering commercial entertainers with artistic tinge. Like Rajkumar Hirani or Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sukumar is also capable of making films with superstars. He shows them as underdogs, and then they gradually rise to the top in the film, so this journey is fascinating to many actors," concludes Ram Achanta.
