Top stars couldn’t save his last attempt. But Vara Mullapudi is confident that his latest film with Naresh and Rajeev will be a thriller that people will remember for a long time. Having got lots of support from industry bigwigs like SS Rajamouli, Keeravani and his wife, Vara is keenly awaiting the release of Visakha Express. He is confident that NTR’s title will bring him good luck. Excerpts from a rendezvous with Vara Mullapudi…

Vara Mullapudi is better known for the film Naa Alludu with NTR. At least that was the case till now. With a cast that included Ramyakrishna and NTR, apart from glam dolls Genelia and Shriya, it was bound to be a super sensational release. But the film failed to work its magic on the audience. Yet, he made friends with NTR, something that has remained long after the film’s box-office debacle. But the film is now history for Vara. He has a promising thriller lined up for release. Visakha Express is releasing next week. It has Rajeev Kanakala and Allari Naresh playing interesting and very different characters in the film.

“It was NTR who suggested the title to me. He did drop by a couple of times to meet me. People put two and two together and now everyone thinks NTR has put in a special appearance in the film. But there are no such surprises, barring those in the plot”

Instead of doing the good guy and the bad guy, the heroes have swapped their roles and now Naresh plays a villain in the film and Rajeev plays the hero. Vara says the pair has been extremely co-operative and that it was fun working with them. One of the memorable experiences he says was shooting with Bangalore-based cinematographer PKH Das. “I had worked with him for a Kannada film called Anandaa. Then, we started the shoot at 7 am daily. But he could get the shooting started by 7 am here too. That was really some feat,” smiles Vara. Since they were in perfect sync, it was easy to get what he wanted from the veteran cinematographer, he says.

Another important aspect of the film that he is very happy with, is the music. Though Vara himself was not sure of whom to approach for the kind of gripping music that he had wanted, it was Rajeev Kanakala who suggested Vijay Kurakula’s name. Though Vijay worked on a thriller A Film by Arvind earlier, it was a film that had less dialogues and more music unlike Visakha Express that had lots of dialogues. But between Vara and Vijay, they managed to get the right track for the film. The film has a song, O prema, by S P Balasubramaniam after a long time. Incidentally, there is also a rap version of the same. “That was suggested by Keeravani. But it has been done just for the album. The response for the song has been overwhelming though,” confides Vara.

“O prema’s rap version was suggested by Keeravani. But it has been done just for the album. The response for the song has been overwhelming though”

Not just Keeravani, he has had lots of support from the industry in the making of Visakha Express. Highly impressed by Vara’s story, SS Rajamouli first offered to direct and then produce the film. However, as neither of them worked out, he is now presenting the film. Rajamouli’s friend and screenplay writer-director Chandrasekhar Yeleti did the screenplay for Visakha.

But ask Vara if NTR has put in a guest role for him, he is quick to deny the rumours. “It was NTR who suggested the title to me. He did drop by a couple of times to meet me. People put two and two together and now everyone thinks NTR has put in a special appearance in the film. But there are no such surprises, barring those in the plot,” insists Vara. Going back to Naa Alludu, he says some times despite the best efforts, films tend to fail if the audiences do not like what is on offer. “The credit goes to NTR for playing the dual role superbly. He played both Karthik and Murugan and his dance in the song Yen peru Murugan was simply superb. Then, there was the gorgeous Ramyakrishna. But still the film did not work,” says Vara.

One person that Vara cannot thank enough from all those who helped him is Keeravani’s wife Valli. After having promised him to do the promos and publicity for his film before the shooting began, she has come up with some very interesting promos. “She has amazing clarity and superb visualization. Her colour sense too is very good,” says an obviously thankful Vara. It was not just the promos, Valli apparently helped him in costume designing too.

“She has amazing clarity and superb visualization. Her colour sense too is very good”

Vara is proud that Madhu and Naveen, who had edited the promos are already in great demand.

It will be a week before Visakha Express’ fate at the BO will be known. For now, Vara Mullapudi is like an anxious, expecting father, waiting for his baby to be delivered.