Sundeep Kishan starrer Michael is going to hit your nearest theaters today. Prior to the release, the actor interacted with the Hyderabadi media and shared some interesting insights from the film.
Amartya Smaran
Basking in the glory of a series of Pan-Indian successes from the South Industry, more so from Tollywood, Ranjith Jayakodi’s Michael starring Sundeep Kishan, Vijay Sethupathi, Divyansha Kaushik, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Varun Sandesh and Gautam Vasudev Menon is another flick that has all the potential to score big at the global box-office. A romantic drama set in the evil gangster world of the 80s and 90s, Michael simultaneously hit 1500 screens worldwide in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi today. The movie is produced by Karan C Productions and Sree Venkateswara Cinemas.
Despite a dismal stint at the cinemas for many years, Sundeep Kishan’s passion and love for the craft remained intact. The buzz around Sundeep not having a market came to an end with Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene(2019), which was produced under his own banner— Venkatadri Talkies. While his next release Tenali Ramakrishna BA. BL(2019) managed to seep right through the Telugu heartland, A1 Express(2021) yet again cemented his place as a bankable hero in the industry. After a turbulent two-year period, the Venkatadri Express star is back with Michael.
Ahead of the release, Sundeep enthusiastically interacted with film journalists and shared intricate details regarding the project. He put out his thoughts and feelings in a confident manner and let us in on his future projects.
The actor put everything on the line for Michael. At one point, he lived on egg whites and iced coffee for 15 days to pull off an intense sequence which eventually took a toll on the actor. His leg gave up on him but just within a week, he picked himself up, finished the shoot, and again injured himself badly. The makers had to halt the shoot for a month.
Guess what the actor thinks about all this? Let’s hear it from the actor, “I never felt it was hard work. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed the process. The technicians worked a lot harder than me and we are all super happy with how the film turned out. Ranjith delivered something which was way beyond our imagination. When I watched the first cut, I walked out of the screening room feeling this film is going to be so special.”
The Prasthanam actor informed that he considers Michael his biggest success in recent times. “Making the film itself was a huge success and I am looking forward to seeing how people react in the theaters.”
With a renewed philosophy of selecting fresh stories that are visually strong and emotionally sound, Sundeep said, “The theatrical success of a film depends on the promotions and I am very happy that we’ve got such good producers who’ve been super supportive throughout the process. If the emotional content of a film is strong, the audience will support the film. I strongly believe that the audience will love how visually appealing Michael is going to be. This film is high on emotions and drama and it will surely offer a great visual experience to the audience. I don’t think anybody except Ranjith could’ve done justice to the script.”
The Michael star is known for his family dramas and romantic films, but with Michael, he created a brand new image for himself. We wondered if he even made changes to his acting style and he explained, “Michael doesn’t have friends, Michael doesn’t talk to anyone and he’s an extreme loner. He’s a semi-psycho kind of a person with the right ideals. The things that happen in the movie don’t usually occur in the real world. If you ask me if I used any of my personal experiences to enhance my performance, I’d say no. I went by the script and behaved like the character. In my earlier films, there was a possibility for me to use my own experiences but in Michael, I used my imagination and emoted accordingly.”
The film was shot for 73 days and now that the Gully Rowdy actor is placing all his bets on the movie, The Pioneer asked him if the thought of the film bombing at the box office bothers him. “I am someone who deeply analyzes everything. When it comes to this film, the script is very fresh, visually it looks good and I have the best actors on board. In the worst-case scenario, people will still walk out of the theatres thinking they’ve watched a good film. I’d say I’m mostly anxious because so many people told me the film is great. However, I’m waiting for the theatrical response. I am not saying this out of overconfidence, but whatever film I’m doing next, they’re all going to be good films,” told the actor in an assuring tone.
Michael is Sundeep’s statement to the world out there that he’s capable of tapping into the experimental stories. The actor has Ooru Peru Bhairavakona, Captain Miller, and Buddy in his kitty.
“I am also working on Family Man season 3. There’s another exciting film that I can’t talk about right now; it’s going to be my craziest character to date,” concluded the star.
