Exclusive Interview: Sai Madhav Burra: Once you work with Pawan Kalyan, you feel the urge again

Sai Madhav Burra is one of the acclaimed dialogue writers in the Telugu film industry. His works include ‘Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju’, ‘Kanche’, ‘Khaidi No. 150’, and ‘Gauthami Puthra Sathakarni’. Also, he is penning the dialogues for two of the prestigious projects in Tollywood namely, Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’, and Pawan Kalyan-Krish project. Sai Madhav shared a few intriguing details about his previous works and his future projects when we caught up with him. Here is the transcript of the interview.

Every director and writer is working on stories that suit the heroes who they aspire to work with, did you write any story that would suit a particular hero?

Firstly, I don’t have the habit of writing stories which suit the image of any hero in particular. I write a script when I find a good plotline and I did the same during the lockdown. I wrote a few storylines, but did not decide on the heroes who would suit them.

RRR is a pan-India project and showcasing two superstars like Ram Charan and Jr NTR on the same screen is a big challenge for any director. As a dialogue writer, what kind of challenges did you face while penning the dialogues for a multi-starrer of this scale?

The director, Rajamouli balanced both the characters in the narrative and I did the same while writing the dialogues. Both the characters have equal prominence and proportional screen time. RRR is a next-level film. The film will surpass your expectations even if you watch it with sky-high anticipation.

There are rumors that Pawan Kalyan-Krish film is based on Mahaboobnagar-based revolutionary Pandugala Sayanna and it will be a Robin Hood-esque periodical, is it true?

There’s no truth in any of these rumors. People are writing as they wish. No one from the movie unit would reveal these details as it is against professional ethics.

You are associating with Pawan Kalyan for the third time now. How is it to work with him?

Pawan Kalyan is like an encyclopaedia. He has an in-depth knowledge of everything. In regard to cinema, he has enough grip on all 24 crafts. He is a huge star and an equally humble personality. I feel lucky to have worked with him not once, but thrice and it surely is a sublime experience. Once we start working with him, we feel the urge to work with him again and again.

Are you penning the dialogues for Singeetham Srinivas Rao-Balakrishna’s ‘Aditya 999’?

The offer has not reached me yet. But Singeetham garu and I have worked together on a biopic. It is a lady-oriented script. Balakrishna garu is not a part of this project.

How did Sharwanand’s ‘Sreekaram’ shape up?

Debutante, Kishore wrote an excellent story and got the best possible output. ‘Sreekaram’ has equal doses of entertainment, emotions, and social message. It has just the right kind of point which needs to be said to people of this generation.

It was said that you would wield the megaphone and turn director soon. Is it true?

Nope. Those are just baseless rumors. I am busy with my current commitments and I don’t wish to become a director, at least for now. I can’t comment on the chances of me becoming a director in the future.

You have worked on Social dramas, periodical, and love dramas till now. As a dialogue writer, which genre excited you the most?

As a writer, I like to pen the dialogues for all kinds of films regardless of their genres. I wish to work on films belonging to multiple genres and would love to be recognised as a person who did it all. My journey has been in this direction thus far.

A few words about your future projects?

Ravi Teja’s ‘Krack’ and Sharwanand’s ‘Sreekaram’ have neared completion and are gearing up for release. Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ and Pawan Kalyan-Krish film are under production. Singeetham Srinivas Rao garu and I have completed the script of a lady-oriented biopic. Also, I am working on Prabhas-Nag Ashwin project. We are presently fine-tuning the script and I can’t speak much about it for now. But I can say that this project is much more than a pan-India film. It is a pan-World film.