"While 'Prasthanam' is an internal drama, 'Autonagar Surya' is a social drama. Though 'Prasthanam' was critically acclaimed, it was a commercial failure. It made me to direct a hero-centric social drama like 'Autonagar Surya' ", says Deva Katta.

His 'Autonagar Surya' was released a few days back. Deva Katta gets chatty about the film, his upcoming films and analyses the response for the film in an interview.

Excerpts from the interview...

It's the reason

After a critically acclaimed successful film like 'Prasthanam', audiences come to the theatres expecting more from me. Though they are connected with many elements in the film, they felt bored with the unnecessary scenes in the second half. So the film has initially got a mixed response.

Confused then

Audiences are getting more connected to the theme of the movie after the 12 mins trim. We are very happy that the movie has created an impact in the people and they are discussing about it. Actually I didn't want to include those boring elements at the time of editing.But I was in a little bit confusion whether to include them or not. Better late than never, we have deleted those scenes and the movie has become more interesting. I am completely responsible for the initial bad talk on the film.

They have an influence on me

Actually many think that I read a lot of books and it is the reason why I could write such thought provoking dialogues. But it is not true. Though I read some books, I am not a book worm. I think a lot about many things in the society and I read the people around me a lot. I think it is the reason why I could pen some good dialogues. It doesn't mean I doesn't have any book knowledge. I've read some books. But I didn't read books like Vedas. I'm afraid of them.

I was born in Kadapa and studied there till 7th. Later, our family shifted to Chennai and I have completed even my engineering there. I used to be very interested in Telugu subject and used to observe how people used to talk with each other. I also love Tamil language and English literature. So all these many have an influence on me while writing.

Moved by that incident

I read an article in a newspaper that some drunken cops threw out a mother and child out of a moving train and they died at the spot. The reason was a very silly one. I was moved by the incident and I could not understand what is going on in our country. We have stopped thinking that such incidents may even happen to us and have started living a compromised life. We are giving chance to many such incidents to take place again. This whole thought process made me write the story of 'Autonagar Surya'.

Reason for opting commercial formula

Many are asking why I have shifted to commercial formula, after films like 'Vennela' and 'Prasthanam'. We found it hard to draw the audiences to the theatres for 'Prasthanam', though it was critically acclaimed. It was only because of the remake rights, we could recover losses of the film. I need money to do more films and so I wrote the story of 'Autonagar Surya' giving importance to heroism I like most. An underdog raising against odds is an interesting subject anytime. So I preferred to make a hero centric social drama.

Wonderful actress

Naga Chaitanya has done a very good job in this film, regarding his acting and dialogue delivery. Samantha is a wonderful actress Her role in Autonagar Surya is very small and I want to make a film with her, which gives importance to her role. Not a heroine oriented film, but a film in which Samantha will have a prominent role.

Want to come out if it

I want to come out of these intense films and I want to make more realistic subjects, which will influence the audiences. I want to show that I can also direct good love stories.

Akhil's movie not confirmed yet

Regarding Akhil's debut film, nothing is finalized yet. I have narrated a complete love story to Akhil and he liked it. But he also liked the stories narrated by two other directors and he is in an evaluation stage now. So it is better if we talk about it later. I have three subjects in hand, which are of different genres. One is a love story and one other in is a social satire. The other subject is in a very early stage and I can't tell which genre it falls into.

Deva Katta concluded saying that the audiences will surely love 'Autonagar Surya' as the boring scenes have been trimmed now and asked them to watch the movie in the theatres.