Director Tirumala Kishore says if it wasn't for the co-operation of nature when it was needed the most, work on his forthcoming Telugu romantic-drama "Nenu Sailaja" could not have been completed on time.
"When we were about to start the Vishakhapatnam schedule, it was pouring so heavily that we had lost hope of shooting there. However, on the day of the start of the schedule, it miraculously stopped raining and we managed to shoot," Kishore told.
The film, which stars Ram Pothineni and Keerthy Suresh in the lead, will release in theatres on Friday.
"It started raining again a day after we finished our schedule. Of all the forces that helped us in the making of this film, I need to thank nature the most. Something very similar happened when we were shooting in Araku valley, too," he said.
Kishore says "Nenu Sailaja" is not a cinematic love story.
"It's devoid of the usual stalking episode we've seen in several Telugu films. When the film starts, the lead pair is already in love and the audience travel with them on a journey," he explained.
Both Ram and Keerthy have equal weightage in the film, and the director said it is that reason why the movie was rechristened from "Harikatha" to "Nenu Sailaja".
"Ram plays Hari, and our earlier title meant this is Hari's story. However, we felt since the lead actors have equal importance in the story, we changed it to 'Nenu Sailaja', which means 'Sailaja and I'. And this was more apt," he said.
Talking about his lead actors, Kishore said: "Both of them were extremely good. A day before we started shooting, Ram told me that he will come as a clean slate and I have to take care of everything. He put all his faith in me and when we saw the first copy of the film, he was thrilled.
"Keerthy, on the other hand, is a natural. The story required someone who looks simple and didn't have to be glamorous. So instead of bringing somebody from north, we chose to work with her," he added.