'Darja', starring Sunil and Anasuya in lead roles, is directed by Saleem Malik. Produced by PSS Entertainments' Siva Sankar Paidipati, the fiction-cum-action entertainer is presented by Sri Kamineni Srinivas. In this interview, producer Siva Sankar and Executive Producer Ravi Paidipati talk about the film at length.
Music is by 'Rap Rock' Shakeel. With the story by Nazir and dialogues by P Rajendra Kumar, Nazir and Bhavani Prasad, this film has cinematography by Darshan.
The movie heads to theatres on July 22.
We have been distributors in the past. As producers, this is our first venture.
'Darja' is a completely female-centric movie where the female protagonist faces a number of problems in the city. Eventually, she grows up to become a public nuisance herself. What happens, in the end, is what the film is about.
As new producers, we couldn't have dreamt of doing a film with some big star. We wanted to start out on a small note and make a name for ourselves as producers with taste. That's why we commissioned a project like 'Darja'.
We have readied a multi-starrer script and details of the project will be announced after the theatrical release of 'Darja'.
Anasuya has played a strong role in the movie. At first, we mooted names such as Manchu Lakshmi, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Priyamani. Upon the advice of a senior journalist, we opted for Anasuya. We must say she has done a fabulous job. For long, Anasuya has been seen as an entertainer. But her performances in 'Rangasthalam' and 'Pushpa' prove that she is a fantastic performer. As for her look in the movie, the director readied three sketches. One of the sketches bears resemblance to her look in 'Pushpa'. She was impressed that the director thought like Sukumar garu and okayed the look.
Both Anasuya and Sunil cooperated with us fully. Although it was hard for us to get their call sheets, once they were onboarded, their support was complete.
The likes of Venkatesh garu, D Suresh Babu garu, 'Action King' Arjun, and senior producer KL Narayana garu have supported our movie by releasing promotional videos. We have received support from Allu Aravind garu, K Raghavendra Rao garu and Naveen Yerneni of Mythri Movie Makers.
The pre-release promos have been playing in multiplexes for two weeks now. We started promotions two months ahead of the film's theatrical release.
'Darja' will be released on 400 screens in the Telugu States. Chances are that the number is going to go up.
The project was started as a small outing. Eventually, the budget went up as the scale of the project got expanded. Two fights became four, an 8-day schedule turned out to be an 18-day one. Outdoor shoots and extended shoot schedule at Ramoji Film City... everything contributed...
The feedback from the CBFC members was encouraging. They didn't expect an Anasuya-starrer to be high on violence. Despite the many action scenes, there is a lot of sentiment as well. Besides, there is comedy and drama.
We are open to the idea of producing films in various genres, including family entertainers, adventure dramas and action movies.
