Playing God teaches you to be calm: Sudeep

Kannada

stars Sudeep and Upendra come together onscreen for the first time ever to present you a story that could be considered relevant to any individual, anywhere. Days ahead of the release of

Mukunda Murari

, Sudeep explains just why this story needed to be told'

What made you choose this film?Purely the content. It is a story that needs to be told, especially so in today's time when a lot of us need to understand the idea and importance of being practical over being superstitious. Of course, every individual has his own point of view about faith and belief, and we are not looking at changing that. Prayer is important as that is the one thing that gives us hope. But there are many of us who are misguided about the results of prayer. Praying for a miracle cannot become the answer to our problems when we have not put in our share of effort towards solving them in the first place. God has given us plenty already, and we need to use that, identify our strengths, put in efforts to become what we want to be, and believe in ourselves. Nagendra Prasad's written a song from God's perspective for this film that explains the crux of the story very well ' Kelasa Ninnade, Palavu Ninnade. The song explains how you are the owner of your strengths and the owner of the fruits of your labour; instead of giving up, go out there and work to get what you want.

How did it feel to play God?
I still feel like an actor. I approached the role the way an actor would too. Nobody has seen God, so our interpretation while playing one can only be a recreation of one's imagination. How does one react when one is already in the know of everything that is happening and that will happen? Based on this, I think playing God teaches you to be calm. In fact, it was only while shooting for this film that I realized that being calm was rather difficult. In real life, we act and react to various situations differently, but still, there is a reaction. To not react, and stay calm' it's tough. But this film also turned out to be one in which I could step far away from the way I am seen onscreen completely. No fights, no lengthy dialogues, etc.; it was quite peaceful to be a part of this film.

What does God mean to you?Strength. The strength that is within you, which we all need to wake up to.

Tell us what you think about having finally worked with Upendra, who you have known for so long.
Just the other day, Upendra and I were talking about the years gone by. So many memories, so much has happened over the years, how we began our careers, and where we are today in our respective professional lives' it's been quite a journey and right through it, I have known Upendra and respected his work. Considering all that, it was a bit of a challenge for both of us to play our roles in Mukunda Murari ' in real life, he is my senior and I respect him, but in the movie, there are situations in which he was required to bow down to God (the character I play). I do not assume this would have been easy, but Upendra being the complete actor that he is, there was no glimpse or hitch of stardom that came between reality and what he was portraying for the screen.

You've teamed up with Nanda Kishore as director once again after

Ranna

. Is he becoming one of your favourite directors?It is about working with people who do their job well ' irrespective of who we are talking about. Also, working styles do tend to change depending on the script we are dealing with. From what I see, I feel Nanda has grown enough to be able to handle any script that is given to him.