Dulquer Salmaan: Sita Ramam could be the last love story in my career

Dulquer Salmaan, despite doing only one straight Telugu film in his career, enjoys immense popularity among the audiences across the Telugu states. He’s always been received with a lot of cheer and warmth when he comes to promote his films here and it was no different for the trailer launch of his second Telugu release, Sita Ramam, today. Here’s what he had to say about the period romance.

“I thought I wouldn’t do love stories and didn’t want to be called as a romantic hero henceforth. When Hanu Raghavapudi narrated Sita Ramam, I couldn’t say no. I wanted to give a shot at the genre one last time. This could be my last love story. I always keep receiving complaints from the boys that I don’t do enough mass or action. I’m surprised to see their excitement for romance now,” he said.

“Sita Ramam is an amazing story. Hanu Raghavapudi narrated the film entirely in Telugu and I tried hard to make sense of it. This continued on the sets too. The words I heard the most from him were ‘okati cheddam sir’, so much that I forgot my dialogues once and told these words in front of the camera. The entire team believed in the story and gave their 100% to the film,” Dulquer added.

The shoot, he stated, was an exceptional experience and helped him explore many new places for the first time in his life, from Kashmir to Spiti Valley. “The film has a timeless quality to it. Ashwini Dutt is one of my favourite producers; it’s like he runs a hospitality company. He takes care of us so well, feeds us even when we say him we’re on a diet,” Dulquer was all praise for the producer.

Talking of his director, Dulquer mentioned, “Hanu Raghavapudi is like one eccentric, mad man on the sets. He is so passionate about his film that he forgets everything else. I can’t remember how many times has he injured himself. Everything apart, what a writer and director! Films are his obsession and I don’t know if he can wait till August 5 for Sita Ramam to release in theatres. This is a perfect big screen experience and has great music.”

He said that Sita Ramam has so many good actors, from Mrunal Thakur to Rashmika and Sumanth. “One couldn’t have thought of a better cast. All of us called each other by our character names on sets. Mrunal has literally finished shooting for six films from the time she began this film while Rashmika has literally been hopping from one plane to the other.”

Directed by Hanu Raghavapudi, Sita Ramam, produced by Ashwini Dutt under Swapna Cinema and presented by Vyjayanthi Movies. The film releases in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam on August 5.