Chiranjeevi wanted to explore more: Chaitanya

Some of the successful films in Chiranjeevi Sarja’s brief career were with KM Chaitanya. The director is finding it hard to digest the actor’s untimely death. Chaitanya, who made his Sandalwood entry with the brilliant ‘Aa Dinagalu’ (2007), worked with Chiranjeevi in ‘Aatagara’, ‘Aake’, ‘Amma I Love You’ and ‘Aadyaa’.

Chaitanya reveals that their repeated collaboration was partly by luck and partly by choice. With each film, Chaitanya observed Chiranjeevi’s intent to explore his acting skills. “Chiru’s brother Dhruva is a big star. He opted for the ‘superstar’ template and tasted success. Chiru wanted to reinvent himself as an actor and it helped me because I don’t like repeating genres,” Chaitanya tells DH.

‘Aatagara’ (2015), a multi-starrer thriller, was the duo’s first film. “Chiru had already established himself as an action hero and my film had ten characters. So I wasn’t sure if he would be interested in this. My producer Yogish Dwarakish narrated the script to him and he liked it,” Chaitanya recollects.

“I wanted him to be part of an acting workshop. He was eager to learn and began enjoying those workshops. If he had resisted then, maybe we wouldn’t have worked again."

Seasoned actor Meghana Raj, who married Chiranjeevi two years ago, was part of the huge cast in ‘Aatagara’. “We purposefully created a love track. There existed a chemistry between them and we wanted to use it. It worked out very well,” he says.

Chaitanya’s ‘Aake’ was a faithful remake of the Tamil horror flick ‘Maya. Chiranjeevi plays a brooding artist in a film that was praised for its technical aspects and performances. “The film’s story is mostly from the point view of the female protagonist (Sharmiela Mandre). So we weren’t sure if Chiru would agree to play a role in ‘Aake’. But he liked how the character was something he hadn’t tried before. He worked hard on perfecting it,” explains Chaitanya.

'Amma I Love You', the remake of Tamil's ‘Pichaikkaran’ was about a billionaire who decides to live a beggar’s life to save his dying mother.

“Yogish, the producer, began with a different team. The project was halted and I was roped in as the director. We began work with another actor but he couldn’t see himself play a beggar. So we went to Chiru. He comes across as a strong guy. The role demanded him to be simple and helpless. We doubted if it would suit Chiru and whether he would like it. He took up the challenge and did a good job," said Chaitanya.