Exclusive| Siddharth On 20 Years of ‘Bommarillu’: ‘My Biggest Success But Also My Achilles Heel'

Siddharth, on a balmy August day, takes us back to the same August that defined his career exactly 20 years ago. It's the day before the release of Bommarillu, and the actor recalls sitting outside a laboratory waiting for the film's release print.

"We were sitting outside the lab after checking the print. I'll be very honest with you; I said... this is a good film, but if Hasini (Genelia's character) works and they give me a chance in the climax, this is going to be a super hit," Siddharth tells The Hollywood Reporter India.

The actor's prediction came true as Bhaskar's Bommarillu, powered by the romance of a young, dissimilar, cheekily reckless couple, became one of the highest-grossing films to come out of Telugu that year. Produced by Dil Raju and led by Siddharth and Genelia, the film wasn't just meant to be a frothy romance, but also a moving tale of a son trying to make his loving father see beyond his own ideas of what is best for his child.

The film, which has since acquired a cult following among family audiences and continues to live on through its dialogues on the internet, has been remade four times. Twenty Augusts after the one that marked a turning point, the actor speaks about why Bommarillu will always remain special even if it posed limitations in other ways.

How do you look back at Bommarillu 20 years later today?

It's a film that holds a very special place in my heart and is one of my favourite films in my career for many reasons. The most important reason is that it reminds me of how much love I have from the audience of Telugu cinema.

It's a place I was given very early in my life, and I'm very grateful for it. It's very reassuring because, as an actor today, I don't have any connection with Telugu cinema. 

I haven't worked on a single Telugu film except Maha Samudram in the last 10 years. But at the same time, there is this relationship where I'm still considered one of them and the boy next door. The audiences of Telugu cinema established my identity and my stardom.

Can you recall any memories from set that you look back fondly on?

The thing I remember most was the relationships we made while building the film. So principally for me, the two main relationships in the film were between Sidhu and Hasini and Sidhu and his father (played by Prakash Raj).

The stories of preparation are still very fresh in my mind. I'm very close friends with Prakash Raj. I started as an assistant director with him being an actor. He'd always encourage me. So when we were trying to create the father-son dynamic, I needed to make sure that he didn't bring that into the performance because the relationship between my father and I in the film is the opposite. So I went to his house, and I stayed for many days.

My only rule to him was, you can't speak to me when I'm in your house (smiles). I didn't want him to indulge me the way he does in real life. Every time he'd come and talk to me, I'd keep ignoring him. And sometimes he'd be like, why are you doing this? Then he'd laugh and say ok. Even on set, I wouldn't let him speak to me! This was a unique experience because we've always been a riot on sets.

Hasini, on the other hand, was the lifeblood of the entertainment part of the film. But I needed to make sure that Siddhu doesn't dominate any scene, so I would pull back. It helped me to let Hasini be Hasini... imagine if I was competing with her in energy! I thought it might become cacophonous. If I can give you a contrast, I did Rang De Basanti around the same time, and throughout the film, my character of Karan Singhania doesn't speak. But he's the one who speaks in the climax at the radio station.

These are just calls that you take in cinema. I believe this genuinely worked in Bommarillu. Hasini is such a loveable and enjoyable character. And I know that that girl was based on a girl that Bhaskar knew before. I had spoken to the person on the phone also at that point in time, and she sounded a lot like Hasini's character. (smiles)

Of course Genelia is adorable and gorgeous in the film, and she's one of my closest friends. Siddhu and Hasini were a lovely pairing, and the fact that we were friends made it all the more special. Another unforgettable part of the film is Devi Sri Prasad. Very few people took the assignment as accurately as Devi did. 

What was it like filming Rang De Basanti around the same time as Bommarillu while playing such different characters? Because both these films quickly went on to become culturally significant titles in their own right and industries.

That's my life as an actor. I don't think I've ever done two similar roles in the same year. I've never done a film like Rang De Basanti again, and neither have I done a Bommarillu. You cannot make or surpass certain kinds of films. I became an actor and a filmmaker because I didn't want to do the same thing again and again after my MBA. So if anything reminded me of a film I've done, I've moved away from it. 

That's one of the reasons I don't make Telugu films anymore. Bommarillu is the film that was my biggest success, but also the film that became my biggest limitation. It became my Achilles heel. Because everybody told me, 'This boy should only do this kind of film.'

The audience gave me so much love, and I wanted to experiment and do something different. But the industry told me that I can only be this soft lover boy, chocolate boy, and do the same kind of film... that didn't get me excited.

Can you take us through filming that really emotional climax? It's a scene that aptly captured the essence of the film and resonated with two generation of audiences.

I always look at it as an achievement between friends because Bhaskar had drawn from his real life and his friend's life and written the script. His co-director Anand Ranga — who later went on to make Oy! (2009) — and the DOP Vijay Chakravarthy, were thick as thieves, and we're still close friends. 

They kept writing the scene. I remember at one point in the morning, I snatched the paper from their hands and told them, 'Let's not write anymore'. Dil Raju was very clear that this climax would make or break the film. It was going to be a single shot, so I didn't want to rehearse it... if I did, it would've become sterile. I remember when we finished the take, nobody said cut because the whole 400-sheet magazine in the film camera ran out.

I remember I was crying because I was crying in the scene. Anand and Dil Raju hugged me. Bhaskar had left the set and gone out and broken down.

In the 20 years since Bommarillu, do you think audiences today are more cynical, or are they more hopeful about love?

I don't think the audience has ever changed, and they aren't one person. So when you're telling stories to every generation, you repeat the same truth again and again. So there's a Sidhu and a Hasini in 2006, and there has to be another Sidhu and a Hasini in 2026.

Every generation has to fall in love for the first time. Every generation has to experience the first kiss. Every generation has to experience parental opposition. They are still watching Bommarillu when it re-releases. They are still watching it when it comes on TV. Bommarillu ran in theatres for more than a year. I have the 365-day ticket in my hand as memorabilia. 

You might not see that kind of impact today, but that is not a change of audience. It's a theatrical model of watching films. A film doesn't last more than one week in the cinemas now...

Around ten years after Bommarillu was released, I didn't know how much money it was supposed to have collected because we never spoke about the collections of films. Today, everybody is more interested in how much money a film makes. 

The entire narrative is controlled with PR to tell you, 'Do you know how much money this film made?' So that even if it's a bad film, you say, 'But do you know how much money it made?' In those days, 75 days, 100 days and 150 days were the only calculations. So it was a very different time for those reasons. At the heart of it, the audience is the same. The audience that wants to fall in love and escape their day-to-day reality.

Was there ever a moment during filming you knew the film was going to fly?

The day before the release, I remember, we were sitting outside the lab after checking the print, and I said, this is a good film. If Hasini works, this is a super hit. I knew the film was good because I enjoyed it. It made sense to me why I signed it; what I liked about the script had come through.

What made you think that?

I knew that every parent and their son would get the film. But in order to get to the emotionally moving part, you need a character who is entertaining you non-stop by being unpredictable. Hasini was one of the most unpredictable characters I'd ever seen on screen.

I knew Genu [Genelia] as somebody who was a very vivacious and effervescent kid at the time. She'd tell jokes that she would laugh at herself, and start laughing before she finished a joke! If the audience accepted her, I knew the film would be a hit. 

Imagine if they'd said, 'I don't get this character.' If they'd thought that, I don't think they would have waited until the climax for Siddhu to say 'Motham mire chesaru'.

Although Bommarillu follows a traditional romance, it writes Siddhu and Hasini with enough agency, something that holds even today. Do you think the film has aged well?

Over the years, when I've met Telugu women and fans who have grown up on a diet of Bommarillu, they have given me various perspectives on the film.

This might sound self-aggrandising, but I'll still tell you: they thanked me for the character I played in these film. The film ages well because of the human goodness of these characters. Siddhu was not abrasive in any way. I was not encouraging boys to be a certain way to get the girls. A mother of two girls once pointed out to me just how many times Siddhu said sorry on-screen in the film. That is something that they didn't see men do on-screen. I was very lucky to have been offered these kinds of parts by MS Raju, Dil Raju and Anand Ranga. The boy just wants to see his girl smile. I feel like these characters last very long.

Many choices made the film what it is. Don't get me wrong, Bommarillu is about a guy who falls in love with a girl after agreeing to marry another girl. That can be very differently received if played in a certain other way. There's constant innocence in what he does and extreme regret when he's called out for it. 

Another unique thing about this film is that I refused to remake this performance in any language. This film and Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana were remade a lot of times. But I only wanted to discover and find these characters once.

I remember being advised by very big stars at the time, including the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. (smiles) They were insistent that I remake the film in Tamil. I had to convince Vijay anna at the time, going, "I don't want to repeat the same performance." I didn't want to disappoint my producers or audience; that was a scary prospect for me. This, in hindsight, also tells me that I don't know much about commercial economics. But I will always be very proud that Siddharth was Siddhu in Bommarillu.

We know actor-Chief Minister Vijay is a big fan of the film. Can you tell us what he shared with you after watching it?

He gave me the biggest hug and spoke about the film at length when he met me. He recounted every reel of the film and still talks about it when he meets us. He's one of the world's greatest dancers, and he asked me how I did certain moves in the songs. I gave him the biggest hug because it was the cutest thing for a superstar to ask a young kid how he did that. He has encouraged me throughout my career.