'Mosagallu' is all set to release in theatres on March 19. In this interview, Navdeep talks about his character, the film, what makes it unique and more.
The film is about Interpol's biggest operation. I have experienced how it feels to work with a Hollywood director. The treatment is special. I will be seen as a white-collar criminal who has got a lavish lifestyle. He spots Vishnu Manchu's character and makes him help him out in a scam. He and his sister (Kajal Aggarwal) go beyond the brief after they realize that they can pull off the scam on their own.
I have previously worked with Kajal in 'Chandamama', 'Badhshah' and 'Arya 2'. For the first time, we have played enemies of each other. Hers is an intelligent character.
When Vishnu approached me with the offer, I was told that 'Mosagallu' is based on a true story. Ruhi Singh has played Vishnu's love interest. My character too has got a love interest but she is limited to a couple of scenes.
A brother-sister duo in India uses the loopholes of the American laws and scams their people. This hurts the ego of Americans and they deploy Interpol to nab the culprits.
We have done Sync Sound for English and then did the Telugu version. The director did everything based on the emotional quotient of the different scenes.
Successful actors are not in a dilemma about the kind of roles they want to do. But others are not like that. 'Gautham SSC', 'Arya 2' and 'Chandamama' are the few films that were written for me. I ended up doing disasters early on in my career because I was too small to say 'No' to a number of producers/directors. After 'Chandamama', for which I teamed up with Krishna Vamsi, no story impressed me until 'Arya 2' came. More than 17 years after I debuted in movies, I am now in a position to make choices.
With OTT, actors have become too busy. At least 90 projects, both feature films and OTT ones, are on the floors. So much so, production houses are finding it hard to rent equipment.
I am doing a fantasy love story as a male lead. One of the writers of 'Baahubali' is wielding the megaphone. It will be shot in Meghalaya for 75 days. I am confident that my second innings will begin with that movie. I have got goodwill in the industry. I just need one success. People are now convinced that I am good but was misunderstood in the past.
After I started a writers' collective, 6000 aspirants approached us. We interviewed them all and zeroed in on 40 talented people. Most writers have just one idea because they don't hone their writing skills. Writing is a collaborative effort. There are seven methods of screenwriting. A writer has to smartly adapt to suit the Indian sensibilities. At our collective, we give writing exercises to the writers and make them think through. We have pitched stories for Aha, Amazon Prime and also to Trivikram Srinivas garu. Krish Jagarlamudi garu asked us to write a story based on a book. Swapna Dutt garu made another offer.
During the lockdown, a number of filmmakers sat down and told themselves that a writers collective has to be formed. Krish, Harish Shankar and Nandini Reddy, among others, spoke about my collective.
A web series is in the pipeline. Due to the lockdown, things have slowed down at the writers' collective. But the pace has picked up and something credible will be seen this year one after one.
