Orange did good business in Urban Areas

RamCharan has put behind the debacle of Orange and is back to his cheerful best. That, however, doesn’t mean that he has changed his opinions about the movie nor does he mince his words about whom to blame. “Contrary to reports, Orange has done excellent business in urban areas, at par with any hit film. But it didn’t get a similar response from the other centres since fans couldn’t digest me in a role with a touch of ‘grey’,” he says.
“Though the music was sensational, we felt that the narrative could have been tightened up and the director should also be blamed for some other lapses. Doing a new-age romance was a different experience, so no regrets” he adds.
Besides the dodgy narration, doesn’t he think that a light-hearted romance should have been made within a reasonable budget? “Shooting long schedules abroad is a costly affair but the budget went out of hand due to my executive producer. We totally trusted him and paid a heavy price (around Rs 10 crore) for it. So the producer and my uncle had to quote hefty distribution rates since it was like a chain reaction,” he points out. With the film failing to make it at the box office, the actor returned his remuneration to the producer. “That’s the maximum I can do as an actor,” he quips.
Moving away from Orange, we talk about his B-town plans and the actor says nothing is fixed. “No hurry to move to Bollywood in 2011 since I have two big Telugu films on hand and two more in the pipeline,” he explains. His next film Merupu has a sports-centric theme and is slated for release in June. “It’s a tale of a spirited protagonist who counters the plans of the antagonist in a series of soccer matches,” he informs.
Subsequent to two different looks for Magadheera and Orange, the actor is working on yet another new avatar for his next film. “I’ll show some muscles and a toned-body since appropriate looks add dimensions to the character.”
About the on-going Tollywood standoff, he says, “Producers have been discussing about reducing production costs for the last few years but this unforeseen stalemate has made them crack the whip. Actually, I happened to attend a meeting with all other T-town superstars and like me, a couple of other stars were unfairly blamed for going over budget. But this occurs due to inexperienced production units. Even outsiders tend to believe such baseless allegations since they don’t know anybody else in the unit other than the star,” he reasons.
The star is happy that his long-time buddy and actor Allu Arjun is tying the knot on March 6. “It’s high time he settles down and I am planning a special surprise gift for my pal,” he says.
About his own marriage plans he says, “Let Bunny tie the knot, so that I can check out the merits and demerits of getting married with him. then I’ll think about mine,” he smiles.
The actor is also excited about his 10-day road travel to discover South India. “Five of our friends will get into my car and zoom off to all important tourist spots in South and I am looking forward to it,’ he says.