Kalyan Ram: Bimbisara is about the transformation of an evil king into a compassionate human

Kalyan Ram is keen to know the fate of his next ambitious project, Bimbisara, which hits theatres tomorrow. The director of the socio-fantasy, Vassishta, whom he had known since 2015, approached him with the script in December 2018 during the shoot of NTR Mahanayakudu. He had reportedly told him in advance, “Don’t ask me about logic in the story, this relies more on magic.’

When Vassishta told him a story with elements of time travel, fantasy, Kalyan Ram was naturally thrilled and said yes. “I wondered if I would suit the part of a king in the story. I haven’t done anything similar before though grandad NTR, babai Balakrishna and Prabhas tried their luck with it. I knew I had to work hard to avoid any comparisons and moulded the look according to my personality.”

Right from the fat percentage in his face to the kajal underneath his eyes, a team extensively worked on the actor’s look for Bimbisara for two months. “I was on a diet to get the look right. I didn’t want to refer to my grandad’s films. NTR was a legend and I know my limitations as an actor. I am scared of using his characters as a reference point - it’s a peak I can’t ever reach.”

Kalyan Ram, through the making of the film, took special care of the diction while working with the writers. The action sequences aren’t on the scale of Baahubali, he clarifies. “The story is about how an evil, aggressive king transforms into a good human. The fantasy element is of course the major highlight of the film.”

In the fantasy space, NTR’s Pathala Bhairavi is his personal favourite, but insists he doesn’t have any intention to remake it. “Balakrishna had done something similar with Bhairava Dweepam with a few changes later. I was in awe of Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari when I first saw it and felt the writers did a tremendous job of blending two worlds.” It also helped that the director knew the nuances of the genre and was a big fan of NTR and fantasy films.

The actor assures that audiences will get to see Kalyan Ram 2.0 with Bimbisara. He’s thrilled to have received appreciation from producer Dil Raju and his brother Jr NTR after a preview held recently. The Athanokkade star says it’s a big deal to be applauded by his brother, whom he considers one of the best actors of this generation.

Vassishta has already readied the script of Bimbisara 2 and it’s likely the duo will reunite again for it. “The sequel is mostly on. I am happy that the film has good hype even before the release. I am confident that it would live upto audience expectations. There will be a lot of surprises for viewers at the theatres, we haven’t revealed much in the trailer.”

“Our audiences see films as a form of escapism and want to have a good time with their families at the theatres after leading stressful lives. If we make worthy films, they’ll definitely come to watch them on the big screen. These are times when a viewer decides to watch a film on the basis of a trailer. Word of mouth becomes crucial after the release. This was the case with Major and Vikram,” he stated.