'I am fine with the in absentia credit'

He nonchalantly laughs off the fact that he made some of thebiggest blockbusters with the superstars like Rajinikanth, Kamal Hasaan,Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh at a time when the money factor wasn't so huge. "If I hadmade those films today," Suresh says with a laugh, "imagine where I'd havebeen!" So, does he ever rue the fact that his work gets overshadowed in thepresence of such big stars? He says with a benign smile, "If my films work, Iwork! I've been here long enough to understand that it's my work that's got methus far. I am absolutely fine with the in absentia credit." As he settles downfor a freewheeling chat, NT catches him at his candid best.It'snot every day when superstars like Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Mohanlal andSalman Khan work for you. But, for Suresh it's his job. Saying that the pressureis always there when working with big stars, he goes on to add, "If the directoris confident about his work, then the stars have no issues. Also, what manypeople see as interference, I look at as positive suggestions. Rajnikanth, KamalHassan... have been in the industry for a pretty long time. They often know whatworks, so I listen to them with an open mind." So, tantrums don't bother him?"Not at all," he says, adding "It's writing the script for superstars thatbothers me! They are such huge figures that they want everything in a film -songs, drama, action, emotion etc. and often a script cannot have all, but I canbank on their image and it's worked for me. On the other hand when you write fornew actors, your script has to be king because you cannot bank on their starvalue."SureshKirssna was brought up in Mumbai, assisted K Balachander on Ek Duje Ke Liye andthen moved down South where he made some blockbuster Tamil films like Annamalai,and Badsha apart from of course making Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. Isn'tbeing multilingual tough? He says, "For me, a film begins as a blank sheet, thenthe story unfolds, the words come alive, images are created, there's music andyou have a film on hand. Will a particular language change the feel? Don'tpeople love to see films in different languages? It's the emotive quality of afilm that touches people! So, I find it easy making films in any language." Hislast Hindi film was Love with Salman Khan. Why isn't he making any more Hindifilms? He laughs and says, "I've no idea! But, when I make a Hindi film, I'dlove to work with Amitabh Bachchan! Otherwise, I am open to doing Marathi,Bengali, or even a French film! I am a flexible director and I can make a filmfor Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 25 crores!"There's alot of talent that's crossing over from Bollywood to other regional filmindustries, but somewhere deep down, there still exists a regional divide in theminds of an audience who are reluctant to see films in other languages. Tell thefilmmaker this, and he says, "People in the industry obviously don't think inthis manner, else this crossover wouldn't be happening. But, cinema is a greatunifier. Doesn't every Indian love A R Rahman or Shah Rukh Khan? It's just amatter of time before we start watching films in other languages. If people inAmsterdam and Paris - who don't know a word of Hindi - can go gaga over SRK andhis films, I see a lot of hope for our regional films getting a nationalaudience."Follow us on Twitter for more stories