In 'Amigos', Nandamuri Kalyan Ram is going to be seen in three challenging roles. This February 10th release is coming out in theatres amid a high degree of positivity. If Kalyan Ram's 'Bimbisara' was a blockbuster hit, producers Y Ravi Shankar and Naveen Yerneni of Mythri Movie Makers had two Sankranthi hits recently.

In this interview, Kalyan Ram talks about the film at length. As Manjunath, Kalyan Ram will be seen as a bespectacled software engineer. As Siddharth, he will be seen as a suave entrepreneur. And, as Michael, he will be seen in a gangster-like role.

Your film 'Bimbisara' was a stupendous hit. What has changed since then? Is the success of that film reflected in your career moves?

If Bimbisara's success has changed anything, it is that I am feeling more responsible toward my audience. I want to give new things a shot. As for my career moves, if you are talking about 'Amigos', I have to say that it was a project that I gave a nod to much before Bimbisara's theatrical release. Even 'Devil', the spy action thriller, was finalized long back.

It is interesting that you want to try fresh subjects. What drew you toward 'Amigos'?

I was committed to working with Mythri Movie Makers. I sent them a story that someone pitched to me. But it didn't get their approval. It was then that they asked me to listen to 'Amigos'. The script really attracted me, and I endorsed debutant director Rajendra Reddy's gripping narration. That's how it began.

Coming to what enticed me to do the film, it is the fact that its various ingredients are exciting. There are three lookalikes and the villain is not a fourth one. It's one of them who is the antagonist. And, there is just one heroine, played by Ashika Ranganath. She is a nice dancer and comes with the experience of doing nearly ten movies in Sandalwood.

When the promotions for 'Amigos' began, many people had to Google the meaning of 'Doppelgangers'. You will be seen in three contrasting roles in the movie. Do you think the audience are clued in?

When 'Kantara' was released in theatres last year, nobody knew its meaning. Coming to the theme of 'doppelgangers', it is familiar to many. People have grown up listening to incidents/stories involving people who are identical and yet are not twins. People have heard of the Elon Musk lookalike.

Coming to the relative significance of the three doppelgangers in the film, they are equally important. It's not like one of them occupies primacy at the expense of the other two men. As for the friendship-themed title, we had to borrow from a foreign language because Indian terms associated with friendship have long been used.

Do you see 'Amigos' as an experiment or a commercial film? Going by the film's trailer, it is an action entertainer.

It's surely an entertainer. And it is a commercial one like almost all of my films with the sole exception of '118', which was more of an experimental film. If you think about it, 'Bimbisara', too, was purely commercial with elements like time travel and historic fiction acting as key plot points.

'Amigos' features the remix of Nandamuri Balakrishna's 'Enno Raatrulostaayi'. What was the need for it?

The song comes in the second half. A regular song in a film of this sort might not enthuse the audience. So, we drew from a classic hit.

Does 'Amigos' have any resemblance with the 1986 American comedy film 'Three Amigos'?

I haven't watched that movie at all.

Nowadays, most of the 'hatke' films are having open-ended endings and tease the audience with the prospect of a sequel. Does 'Amigos' too have a sequel?

Not at all. Its story is going to end in one part. There won't be a sequel.

How is Taraka Ratna's health?

It is best talked about by the hospital through an official health bulletin.