S. S. Rajamouli

I am a filmmaker. My job is to make films. When something excites you - a story or characterisation - you immediately forget about everything else. You only think how to make a movie out of it. The economics come only later. You shouldn't let money dictate the kind of films you should make.

People like to see Ravi Teja as a vibrant, massy character. We needed to do something more. So I gave him the extra flavour of the cop character and high emotions. And Ravi did a good job.

I was very happy when I was doing my first two films: 'Student No.1', 'Simhadri'. I had absolutely no doubts - I would just place my camera at one point and say, 'That is the right way.'

I shoot a scene, edit it, and then, two days later, I doubt whether or not it has turned out right. I reshoot a small part of it, go back to the first edit of it, and do all sorts of things.

Mayabazar' was the film I immensely loved as a kid. Only when I became a filmmaker about 20 years later did I realise its technical marvel and what a great epic it was. I and my visual effects supervisor, while making 'Yamadonga,' took two days to understand the magnification shot of Ghatothkatcha's persona.

A star is different, and an actor is different. But there is an actor in every star, and they, too, look for challenging roles to satisfy the actor in them.

If we make films only for the frontbenchers, we can't make money. Hence, we have to make it for a majority audience. As my films are mass films, I deal with emotions in raw form - they are not subtle. I don't mind being branded. That does not mean I like only those kinds of films.

The consolidated appreciation that 'Eega' is the pride of the Telugu film industry is the biggest award I can get.

I can't analyse the secret of success. In my style of working, I stick to the basics and make stories revolving around the hero.

If someone makes an inroad into a new territory, a new market, people will follow their success. That way, I think we will be getting more pan-India films and not restricted to a region or a language. More and more films will come out on a bigger budget, on a larger-than-life scale.

I'm well aware that I have put my actors in difficult positions because of my vision, but when they see I work for the betterment of the product, they understand the pain I put them through.

I would say the most important aspect of direction is that you, as a director, and your producer need to be on the same page, the same line of thinking. If that doesn't happen in the beginning of the film, then that will show in the final product 100 percent.