Producer Suresh Babu has revealed the people often used to mistake him for Kamal Haasan during his 20s and noted filmmaker Bharatiraja had offered him a lead role in one of his movies.
Suresh Babu is the eldest son of late Tollywood filmmaker D Ramanaidu. He is one of the leading film producers and distributors from the Telugu film industry. Some Telugu producers have introduced their sons as heroes. But many wonder why Ramanaidu did not make Suresh an actor despite him having good looks and physique. However, Suresh reveals that he was not interested in acting.
But the fact is that Rama Naidu had burnt his fingers in the film industry and he did not want his son get into the risky business of movies. He wanted him to become a doctor or an engineer, or get into manufacturing. That is why he sent Suresh Babu to the USA to do his engineering at University of Michigan in 1981.
After returning India, Suresh Babu set up a factory called Spartek Ceramics with a friend, but it didn't do well. So he started spending time in his father's office. "I had a reasonable sense of story from the beginning. I was able to do corrections while sitting in on the story discussions," he told in an interview with The Asian Age.
'Even our cars were similar'
Suresh Babu revealed that he looked liked young Kamal Haasan and he was often mistaken for the actor in those days. "Even our cars were similar. People would try to stop me, thinking I was Kamal Haasan. I would wave from the car," The produced told the Asian Age with a laugh.
Suresh Babu also revealed that popular director Bharathiraja had approached him for the lead role in a film. However, he had rejected his offer, as he was not interested in acting. The producer added, "But I was never interested in acting."
However, Suresh Babu wanted to return to USA after helping his father with production work for four years. But he stayed back to launch Venkatesh's acting career. He said, "I wanted to see that he got a good break. It took a few years. Bobbili Raja happened in 1990, and after that success, he settled as an actor. I too decided to stay on in India,"