How did Ravi Teja come into the picture?
I was looking at getting into the Telugu industry. So, I tried to release FIR in Telugu and that is when my wife’s friend introduced me to Ravi Teja sir, and he presented the film. I told him about Gatta Kusthi at the time and he wanted to collaborate. That’s how it all started. The film got a bigger scale when he came on board. I could have shot the film at half the budget of what I have shot today, but I was able to get the best technicians like Anbariv master for the stunt sequences and got a bigger kusthi set for the climax. I was able to pull it off because Ravi Teja sir believed in me.
So, what kind of roles does Vishnu Vishal, the producer, want for Vishnu Vishal, the actor?
As a producer (a split personality if you will), I have taken all these risks for Vishnu Vishal, the actor, to grow. I have lined up different kinds of films. The agreement between the producer and the actor in me was to do five films together — FIR (2022), Gatta Kusthi, and three upcoming projects Mohandas, Aaryan, and an untitled project. Only after that, the actor is doing Laal Salaam, a movie with the Ratsasan director Ram Kumar, and another big film.
So, when he comes back, I am going to give him the kind of roles that are bigger in vision and scale. So, it is like, “Listen, I am going to put you in a proper commercial space where you have to carry it and I will give you a lot of challenges.” The producer here is purely for the actor and I want to see him grow. In that process, I want to grow my business and do even bigger films.