25 January,2009 06:39 PM IST | | Team MiD DAY
"There are two golden rules in the film industry. Never fight with your producer and never fall in love with your co-star," quipped popular actor-director Ramesh Aravind, sipping on coffee at the MiD DAY office at 4.30 pm today.
Flanked by his young and beautiful heroines, Anusha, Meghana and Sharmila Mandre, and matching wits with a room full of scribes, the star was relaxed as he spoke on everything from the success of Slumdog Millionaire to the making of Venkata in Sankata.
Witty repartee and hearty guffaws filled the room as everyone from producer Naresh Manglani, music director Ricky Kej, and the beauties gave new meaning to the words, 'shooting from the hip'.
Why slapstick comedy from an actor who is capable of serious cinema, we asked Ramesh. "Comedy is necessary in dark times. I feel happy to give people a complete entertainer. But I want to say that making a film like Taare Zameen Par will always be on my radar," he admitted.
On the subject of heroines, Ramesh insisted that the four-month schedule was so packed for him as actor-director that he was speaking to the "girls" only over the last few days. "You actually did a course in acting in London?" he asked Sharmila Mandre, when a MiD DAY reporter asked her about her stint at an acting school abroad.
When asked if he had finally got over his Kamala Hassan fixation, Ramesh manfully admitted that had a scribe asked him this question a few years ago, he would have got all huffy. "Today, I admit that Kamal's influence has been huge. He is like a school of acting. I always show him my films because I value his opinion. He will mince no words when he sees my films. I'm waiting for his verdict on Venkata in Sankata," he said.
If the film is as grounded and as real as the stars who stopped by our office, the box office registers will be noisily jingling very soon.u00a0
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