Major Is Not A Pan India, But All-India Film: Adivi Sesh

Promising hero Adivi Sesh is awaiting the release of Major which will hit the screens on June 3rd. The film directed by Sashi Kiran Tikka has been winning appreciation from the previews. Meanwhile, Sesh interacted with scribes. Here are the excerpts.

When did you first got the idea of making biopic on Major Sandeep?
After watching photos of 26/11 incidents, one of my cousins told me that I look alike Sandeep. When he was awarded the Ashoka Chakra, I read about him and became his fan. Not many know about his real life. Though many knew what he did in the 36 hours in the hotel, no one knows how his life was in 31 years. When I came to know many things about his life, I thought of making a biopic. That idea came to me while doing Kshanam and I started implementing it while the making of Goodhachari.

Did you find it difficult to show a great story in a movie?
Usually, not many things are included in biopics. But we had a great story to make the movie. This biopic is different from the usual ones. He did some crazy things which people cannot believe them now.

How different is this movie from other movies on 26/11?
When we announced to make the movie, may stated that they already watched movies on 26/11. But everyone was surprised to see many unknown things about his life, after the release of the trailer.

How do you feel about doing a biopic on Sandeep?
Sandeep’s parents did not like the names suggested by Bollywood and Mollywood makers. They rejected because they felt the heroes don’t resemble their son. They, however, felt very happy, after seeing me. I call Sandeep’s mother as Amma.

What is the biggest challenge in making of Major?
There were many challenges we faced during the making of the movie. I still feel it would have been nice if I included this scene. But we can’t include many things in just two hours movie. We also needed to include fictional elements. There is a scene in the movie where we needed to show five different incidents. It was very challenging for us.

What’s the importance of heroines in this kind of story?
Major has two heroines Saiee Manjrekar and Sobhita Dhulipala. In Sandeep’s life, there was one in the present and another in the past. Many girls had crush on him. While since his childhood, school, job and marriage are one part, Kashmir and Kargil are other major part.

What kind of support did you get from Mahesh Babu?
Mahesh Baba is the prime reason for we made the film audaciously. It is a great thing to show the film to the audience before the theatrical release. We took the decision, because of Mahesh Babu’s encouragement.

How many VFX shots does this movie have?
The movie has a total of 2478 VFX shots. You’ll know important of thse scenes when you watch the movie.

Did Sashi Kiran Tikka do justice, because it’s his second movie?
To make a good movie, one need not to have experience, but talent. In that case, Sashi Kiran is very talented. He brought international look for the movie.

Does this movie help you reach next level of stardom?
Major is the story of a man of all India. I will also reach that level with the movie. It’s not a Pan India movie, but an all-India movie. Sandeep went to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kashmir. That’s why we want to take this film to all the areas.

Alongside Major, Vikram and Prithviraj are releasing, what do you say?
I am very happy. When I was a kid, my favorite movie was Vasantha Kokila. I used to dance to songs from Akshay Kumar movies in my school. Both are my favourites. If Prithviraj and Vikram are big budget movies in Tamil and Hindi respectively, Major is a big budget film in Telugu.

You are mostly doing thrillers like Kshanam and Goodhachari. Do you have any plans of doing love stories?
All the movie I’m doing have love stories. Major has a love story and Goodhachari 2 will also have one.

Finally, what do you say about Major?
One of the survivors in the incident told me that, when Sandeep entered Taj hotel, he felt as if Suryaputrudu came to protect them. Sandeep was a very jovial person.