'Madhurapudi Gramam Ane Nenu' stars Shiva Kantamaneni as the hero. Produced by Light House Cine Music and presented by G Rambabu Yadav, the film is bankrolled by KS Shankar Rao and R Venkateswara Rao. Touted to be a concept-oriented action drama, it will grace the theatres on October 13.
In this interview, Mallikarjun of Kalyan Ram's 'Kathi' fame talks about what to expect from his latest BO offering. The film's music is by Mani Sharma. Suresh Bhargav is the director of photography. Editing is by Gautham Raju. Fights are by Ramakrishna. Dialogues are by Uday Kiran.
What if a village has a soul like a human being? What would its feelings be? How it would feel the pain? What kind of pain does it undergo? That's what my film is about. The cultural setting is unique and fictional. It has been made as an action-drama.
As a child, I came across a news story where a criminal surrendered before the police by holding the head of a man he had beheaded. That image stayed with me for years. Although my film has nothing to do with the motive behind that real-life savagery, that particular idea is drawn from real life.
There is a raw and rustic love story between the lead pair which is between their souls, not bodies. There is a family drama as well. This film is a string of all emotions. The hero has behaved like his character, Suri. There is no deviation from the central focus of the character.
Mani Sharma garu doing this film is a privilege. I have had a good rapport with him. It was his advice that I take up something 'hatke' instead of a regular commercial movie. Recently, he felt that the technical merits of the movie are strong.
I roped in newcomers because of the nature of the subject. Had I worked with known actors, I would have had to change the mood and the expression. I didn't want to compromise on my vision, though.
Our movie has been given 'A' certificate although there is no cuss word. There is hard-hitting and raw violence and that's why the 'A' certificate. That said, this is the kind of film I would have no issues watching with the women in my family.
I previously directed three movies with Kalyanram as the hero. 'Kathi' was a commercial hit. If I am still there in the film industry, it's because of that movie. I made 'Sher' with Kalyanram in 2015. Its failure resulted in a long gap in my career. After the pandemic, the whole trend changed. The audience are not watching regular commercial fare.
I have no specific genre preferences. I have a script set in a forest backdrop. It's not a regular commercial script.
