A big box office blockbuster has always been elusive in Sundeep Kishan’s career. He has had hits in both Telugu and Tamil with films like Venkatadri Express (2013) and Maanagaram (2017) respectively. He talks about his recent letdown with Michael (2023), “I am not someone who can easily walk away from failures, it affects me a lot. Michael had the biggest budget and the biggest pre-release-buzz. We achieved great scale for that budget. We got everything right until the last second with the edit. We wanted to tell a different story and something else happened in the edit. I saw the film the night before and I knew I was in trouble. I still believe we have a great action love story in the footage.” He feels that he has let down the audience with the film, “I was very embarrassed when Michael didn’t work, so many people came to support the film and I felt I let them down.”
Speaking of the audience, “I was mostly referred to as the most hopeless one in my family. No one believed in me, not my family, not my collegemates, not even my uncle (Chota K Naidu, a cinematographer). I always knew I needed to do something bigger in life and that kept me going. The first people who actually believed in me were my audience. Irrespective of the films succeeding or failing, I have found more and more people rooting for me. At the beginning of my career, the craft of acting was the big driving force but now it is the audience.”
Sundeep has also collaborated with some of the most promising directors in Telugu and Tamil, people like Lokesh Kanagaraj, Deva Katta, Praveen Sattaru, Prasanth Varma and Mahesh Babu Pachigolla most of whom had massive successes after working with him. “I even travelled with Sandeep Reddy Vanga for almost a year on a project called Sugar Factory. I feel very happy to see them succeed. I take it very personally also because I see them as my friends. I have always vouched for them and not randomly but because I actually believed in them.” About Mahesh Babu Pachigolla, specifically, who recently had success with Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty (2023) “Mahesh was just 24 when he was making Ra Ra... Krishnayya (2014). We started off making a remake and halfway through found out that we couldn’t buy the remake rights anymore. So he had to write a different second half and again it turned out to be similar to Mirchi (2013) and then he had to write something else. Now I am very proud to see Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty and this is a story he narrated to me back then.”
Sundeep is clear that he wants to succeed as an actor in the theatres, not on OTT. “I got my OTT hits but now I want the person who buys the ticket to my film in the theatres to say the film is fantastic. To achieve this goal I don’t mind giving my life for a few months to directors like Venkatesh Maha.”
He further elaborates on his big box-office ambitions with his new film Ooru Peru Bhairavakona (2024) “I was clear that my aim with the film is 100 crores. Last year was a big proof that any kind of small film could work and make big money. And 100 crores is not just money but an indicator that a lot of people enjoyed the film. I was scared to tell the number but I know we as a team deserve it.” Talking about the comparisons with recent hits like Virupaksha (2023) and Hanu-Man (2024), “I believe films in a similar genre working at the box office is a good thing. I know that we started the film in May 2021 when we had no idea about all of this. I also know that our film in terms of story is very different.” Ooru Peru Bhairavakona being a fantasy film relies heavily on CGI, “I was very worried about the CGI of the film. After seeing the CGI shots that we got recently, me and Anand (director) felt we were saved. I felt they came out well.”
Opening up about the difficulties of being an actor in the current climate, Sundeep shares, “There are a few big production houses making 3 big movies, 4 mid-range movies and 5 small-budget movies. If I have a good relationship with them, I can get a story I like get made as a film. Otherwise, I have to act in a story they like. For an actor to craft an identity right now is very hard unless he has a big blockbuster in his career. If I send a director to a production house, they want me to share the financial burden as well, and this is something I have been doing since Venkatadhri Express. I want to support a certain kind of cinema and for that, I don’t mind risking my financial freedom at times.”