Debutant director Vassishta awaits the release of 'Bimbisara' on August 5. The Kalyanram-starrer, produced by NTR Arts, is riding on a wave of high expectations. In this interview, Vassishta talks about the film, the roles played by different actors, what to expect from him in the future, and more. He is appreciative of the efforts put in by the VFX team, which worked on thousands of shots.
For those who don't know, Vassishta has a film background. His father, Mallidi Satyanarayana, is a former film producer. The youngster, who also acted in a movie, regards VV Vinayak as his guru. He also worked on 'Bunny', the 2005 Allu Arjun-starrer produced by his father himself.
I have always been inspired by time-travel fantasy genre. 'Aditya 369' and 'Back To The Future' are among my favourites.
'Baahubali' is a costume drama with folk elements. 'Magadheera' was a reincarnation story. 'Bimbisara' is neither. It's a time-travel fantasy epic action drama. Our film doesn't demean Bimbisara anywhere. This is a fictional story, first and foremost.
Every character in the Mahabharata has got a story of their own. In the same way, the characters in 'Bimbisara' have their own back stories, to narrate which we have also gone for a second part.
Kudos to Kalyanram garu for his dedication. He had to maintain the physique and look for three years. His mind was occupied with this project 24/7. The genre itself excited him in 2019 when I went to narrate the story to him. The script was locked in 2019 itself. Ours is the first straight Telugu time-travel film since 'Aditya 369'.
This time-travel film is not about the past and present. It's about past and present sharing parallels with each other. The idea of casting Kalyanram garu as an Emperor really thrilled me. The film is his one-man show.
Catherine Tresa will be seen as a Princess named Ira. She is a strong woman. And Samyuktha Menon (seen recently in 'Bheemla Nayak') is a police inspector named Vyjayanthi. Srinivas Reddy will be seen as Zubeda.
'Bimbisara' is not a pan-India flick. It will have a big release worldwide. Merely dubbing your film in other languages to make it a pan-India project doesn't suffice. You have to spend time and energy promoting it across languages. And this is not an easy job at all.
Since this is a rare genre, a lot of preparation in pre-production had to be done. Story-boarding was done.
I have picked three composers in all. MM Keeravani has composed the maximum number of songs (three). Varikuppala Yadagiri has composed 'O Tene Palukula', the folk song. Chirranthan Bhatt (of 'Gautamiputra Satakarni' fame) has composed the rest.
