Sudheer Babu's 'Hunt' is going to head to the theatres on January 26. The hero has played a character with two variations: Arjun A and Arjun B. While the former is subtle, the latter is going to be a bit loud. "The film has got the right release date," the 'V' actor says.
In this interview, the 'Sammohanam' actor talks about playing an onscreen cop in 'Hunt', doing action scenes without a body double/ropes, his hopes for the movie, and more.
'Hunt' is the kind of thriller wherein every character looks like a suspect. It's a very engaging thriller in that respect. A lot of characters, played by the likes of Mime Gopi and Kabir Duhan Singh, have got suspenseful characters.
I have done stunts without using ropes. I regard it as safer than otherwise. When I don't use ropes, everything rests on me. Even if I have an accidental fall, it's just me. And I took care to land safely in case of a fall. We wanted to break the mould of action choreography in Telugu cinema. My sports background also helped in averting injuries and calibrating my moves.
The action in the movie is going to become a benchmark. At the same time, the underlying emotion is strong. Emotion is the main USP. There is no love story; it's all about friendship.
People who are insane about action scenes came together to work on the movie. Renaud Favero and Bryan Viger of the Marvel universe and 'John Wick 4' fame, respectively, worked as stunt choreographers on Hollywood movies. Initially, it was tough to communicate with them since they don't know much English. They were sure about prompt payments (laughs). Once they were paid an advance, they took us seriously.
When I come across a good script, I don't doubt the abilities of the director/producer. I take the plunge, for it is rare to stumble across a good script. In the case of 'Hunt', the backing of Bhavya Creations was of great help.
'Hunt' has got influences by movies like 'Mumbai Poice' (the 2013 Malayalam movie) and quite a few other movies.
It's the intention of every actor to play a cop. You are going to find two types of cops in 'Hunt'. Usually, our action movies present a masculine cop who is indefatigable. In 'Hunt', one of the variations of Arjun is vulnerable and is low on confidence. The other Arjun is confident.
'Hunt' breaks the mould of a regular movie. There is no heroine, there is just one song... And there are no lags. After you see 'Hunt', you will know it! We avoided gravity-defying stunts. The action scenes were shot in 4-5 days in Paris. The same would have taken 25 working days in India. Even the practice session took just 2 days. After this film, my mindset regarding action scenes has transformed. Nobody here would believe that the stunts were shot in just 4 days. Nobody! 'Hunt' looks like a Rs 25 Cr movie. But the actual budget is less than that.
I am very confident. In the past month, many people in our circle have watched 'Hunt'. Each of them liked it!
'Premisthe' Bharath doesn't have a full-fledged role. It was the director's choice to cast him. He has got a couple of action scenes as well. A non-Telugu actor has been chosen to lend a degree of freshness to the character.
More than a cop, my character has a friendly bond with Srikanth garu. He is different in every film. In recent years, he was so different in films like 'Akhanda' and 'Vaarasudu'. In 'Hunt', again, he is unique.
I have never sought romances or some other genre from filmmakers. I choose from the good scripts that I get. In today's times, in any case, people are not watching all sorts of movies in the theatre. 'Kantara' had an out-of-the-box last 20 minutes. It hit differently when watched in theatre. We need to think along such lines these days.
'Mama Maschindra', directed by Harshavardhan, is my next film. It is a mix of all genres. I have got a triple role in it. One fellow is too obese. The second one is bulked up, while the third one is macho. In a few days, the title of my film with UV Creations will be announced.
When I tried to jot down a film story, I have a creative block after thinking up initial ideas. And I give up! I don't mind trying OTT if the production values are good. As of now, the budgets for web series are not high.
My previous movie, 'Aa Ammayi Gurinchi Meeku Cheppali', had good content but it flopped due to the wrong release date. On OTT, it worked.
