Ask director Venu what the title his up and coming movie Usuru means and whether he is glorifying ghosts and spirits Usuru with the caption Deyyalunnayi Nijam and he shoots back, “I'm not but there are ghosts in my story and it's the truth. Usuru is the bad luck one begets when they hurt someone, in other context it means a blessing. Usuru is Pranam or life which is a pure Telugu word.”
The two-hour drama proves a point to offenders, criminals that even if they are left to go scot-free by the government or law, God or nature eventually catches up with them some day and they will definitely be punished. Two people who have been wronged and now dead become spirits and seek revenge though it is not direct. Out of the eight characters in the film Madhavi Latha of Nacchavule and Subhash Rayal represent ghosts.
Venu says “scaring people with shock value is a temporary phenomenon. I'm going to work by sustaining interest, after a few days you'll still remember how I showed the fear factor. Madhavi Latha is an excellent performer, she played the fearful girl to perfection. To create the atmosphere I chose a desolate area Chinnakakani, 20kms from Vijayawada, on the way to Guntur. We shot at a 100-year old bungalow, a Prasar Bharati building constructed during the British rule. It's a place where no person ventures out after 6pm; I shot 22 nights there. There will be no one to hear you if you scream for help in the dry fields surrounding the place infested with snakes, scorpions and thorns. It's a perfect location and I don't believe in putting up sets and screaming for such genre. During the shoot, we would leave our vehicles and generator a kilometre away because I didn't want to disturb the natural setting and disturb or break the leaves. The leaves are untouched; it suggests that no one tread there for a long time.”
Venu a cartoonist, a painter had already made his debut film Kottha Kadha with Rambha and Nasser, the Tamil version Pudu Kadhai is getting ready for release. The music is less than 20 hertz , there are no songs but all scenes are choreographed. It is produced by his childhood friend Satyanarayana. Usuru is releasing on November 10.
