Sarileru Neekevvaru director Anil Ravipudi woke up to reports on Saturday morning that an entire section of his film was being edited out of the film, as audiences didn’t approve of it.
Too amused to be angry Anil says, “This was news to me. I had not heard a single person complain about that sequence in the train with Mahesh Babu, Bandla Ganesh, Rashmika, etc being boring. In fact, if you see the film with the audience they’re seen to be falling off their chairs laughing in that sequence. The audience didn’t want it to end.”
Anil completely repudiates the report of the lengthy sequence being chopped off. “On the contrary, we added approximately two minutes more to the 45-minute sequence. That train sequence was already 45 minute,s so we had edited it by a bit. Now seeing the positive reaction to the sequence we are adding a few minutes more to the train sequence where Rao Ramesh will be featured. By spreading lies about our film some section are trying to downsize its success. It won’t work. Our film is unstoppable.”
So where are such negative rumours coming from?
Anil shrugs. “I am not pointing fingers at anyone. But anyone smart enough can see who stands to gain from such irresponsible talk. We are not at all afraid of competition. We welcome healthy competition. Every successful film is reason to celebrate.”
Anil Ravipudi is overjoyed by the public response to Sarileru Neekevvaru. “We had worked hard, wrapped up the shooting in about three months in spite of fifteen days shoot in Kashmir. This was the first time I was directing Mahesh Babu. I had earlier written Aagadu which starred Mahesh Babu. But we hardly had a chance to interact then. Now after directing him in Sarileru Neekevvaru, we’ve hit it off so well. Yes, I will be doing another film with Mahesh Babu shortly, though not the next one, maybe the one after that when he will have dates for me.”
Anil looks back at the Kashmir stint with joy and pride. “We shot without any problem. All the local people of Kashmir, the army and security personnel were so supportive. I can’t wait to get back to shoot there.”