Nagaraj Goud
Director Ajay Bhupathi’s phone has been overflowing with calls ever since his maiden feature, ‘RX100’, opened in cinemas last Thursday. He admits it has been quite hectic, attending to multiple long calls—from friends, well-wishers, actors, producers and their representatives— to managing post-release promotions.
As he was touring Telangana screens as the week began, telugu360.com caught up with him for a quick response on the gangbuster business the film is doing. Naturally, he is happy. “In multiplexes across Hyderabad on Monday, the morning show occupancy was 70 per cent. B and C centres across the Telugu states have gone to full capacity; while the less we say about Vizag the better it is, as it’s doing tremendously well over there. I’m told college students, especially girls, are thronging the cinema halls with their bags,” he exults. “Sunday footfalls are more than that of Thursday and the share amounted to Rs 2.5 crore. Exhibitors are saying that footfalls are akin to that of Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan films.”
Is he certain that film will sustain the momentum in the coming days too, bearing in mind the incessant rain? He notes that he isn’t aware of trade terminology like ‘Monday being a litmus test to a film’s BO fate’, informing that people will watch a good film at their convenient time, not necessarily Monday. “The most heartening thing that I noticed about ‘RX100’ is that it is attracting repeat audience. Some people are following the morning show with the matinee too. I’ve visited Sree Ramulu theatre recently and the audience were reeling the dialogues with me.”
He admits “been flooded with offers” from multiple producers but is yet to take a call on whom to join forces with, next. “I have stories and ideas for sure, but the thing is until I’m convinced with my script; I’ll not go to sets. I can wrap up shooting quickly. It’s just that the script takes time,” he asserts, adding that the likes of Mahesh Babu, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun have asked them for Qube projections, which his producer has readily obliged. “Director Krish too rang me for the same purpose.”
Did his mentor Ram Gopal Varma, who has been promoting the film on his social media platforms ever since the trailer released, watched the film? “I’m sure he must’ve, but we didn’t have a conversation about it yet,” he shares, further revealing that he got a call from Phantom representative for a probable Hindi remake of the film.
