On March 25, the trailer for Go Goa Gone was released and in the next couple of days it went viral online with more than 20 lakh views. Krishna DK and Raj Nidimoru, who directed this zombie flick, were taken aback by the reception. “When we released the trailer, we had our fingers crossed. We certainly did not expect it go this viral,” says Krishna DK.
For those unacquainted with Krishna DK and Raj Nidimoru’s line of work, the director-producer duo have made critically appreciated films like Shor in the City, 99 and Flavors . Raj and Krishna won a few awards and their short film Shor won the Best Film award at MIAAC Film Festival and Best Cinematography award at San Francisco Shorts. Krishna and Raj were born in Andhra Pradesh and went on to do what many students from Andhra Pradesh do — study engineering and an MS in engineering in United States of America. “In our previous lives, we were mamma’s boys, getting good grades and topping the class,” Raj smirks.
Krishna says that while he wouldn’t say something clichéd like ‘I have always wanted to make films’, but says that there was always a desire to be creative. He had always watched films but going to America and watching world cinema opened up his mind. “We saw filmmaking in a different light and the digital revolution has helped us get access to the craft,” says Krishna; “Raj and I would discuss stories, we took a few screenwriting classes and we made Flavors . This film gave us the courage and we decided to try our luck in Bollywood,” says Krishna. But it wasn’t like Raj and Krishna decided to leave everything and hop on the first plane to Mumbai. “A lot of thought went into this decision. We planned ahead, we came with an agenda,” says Krishna; Raj adds that they were never consumed by an irrational bug to make it big in cinema, “We were aware that we had to take baby steps,” says Raj.
Winning accolades for Flavors helped them get access to people in Bollywood, “Our work spoke for us,” says Raj. “We made a flowchart for life and executed it. We realised we should make more money and come back for a smoother sail and we did,” says Raj.
Raj and Krishna consider themselves to one entity, which is perhaps why even they have a common page on Wikipedia! “We started together and I cannot imagine filmmaking without Raj,” says Krishna. Sita Menon, their creative director is the behind-the-scenes person for team Raj and Krishna, but Raj claims that it is only when these three minds meet that anything comes out.
As far as filmmaking is concerned, the duo believe their craft fits the mainstream filmmaking mould but comes with the added bonus of having independent sensibilities. “With bigger cinema, you have wider reach, but there have to be layers and certain thoughts that drive the film,” says Raj. Krishna and Raj harp on humour as their unique selling point. Shor in the City and 99 both had doses of dark humour. With Go Goa Gone , the directors want to take it up a notch and also introduce an unexplored genre of Zombie culture to the Indian audience. “We wanted to go beyond the blood and gore of a Zombie film, we needed a relatable element like comedy instead of a downright bloodfest,” says Krishna. “Besides comedy comes naturally to us,” adds Raj.
In Go Goa Gone , you will also see a blonde-haired Saif Ali Khan who plays Boris, the zombie hunter. “Saif is the only actor who can portray a self-involved character and yet retain the charm of a hero,” laughs Krishna. After the bloody Go Goa Gone , Raj and Krishna are looking to step into the romantic comedy genre, “but what we want to make it an anti-thesis to a chick flick,” assures Raj.
