A national award, a matter of pride, can become a double edged sword. A few national award winners will confess to the fear that their forthcoming films will be looked upon as ‘boring’ or ‘art house’ and the need to emphasise that they are here to entertain while breaking formulaic storytelling. Director Praveen Sattaru, whose previous film Chandamama Kathalu , won the National Award for best film in Telugu, finds himself in this tight spot. The awards were announced when he had locked the script of Guntur Talkies and the film was all set to go on floors.
Amidst overseeing the editing process of the film, Praveen confesses, “I am a bit worried if the National Award tag will pull back this film, because this is a 180-degree flip from Chandamama Kathalu . It’s in a more commercial space, a comedy, but it isn’t a clichéd film,” he says.
Praveen describes Guntur Talkies as Ishqiya meets Delhi Belly, a theatrical focusing on two characters: Hari, a 25-year-old Casanova played by Sidhu and Giri, a man in his late 40s, deserted by his wife and left to handle two little children. The second character is essayed by Naresh. “Sidhu plays a dumb, sloppy dude in multiple relationships and Naresh is dumb and cunning, caught in the rigmarole of cooking, getting his children ready for school and looking after his ailing mother who complains of joint pains. Add to that, Naresh is sexually frustrated ever since his wife eloped with someone else. Both these men work at a medical store in Guntur,” explains Praveen.
The director didn’t want to make a film with two young men because “it would then be a regular Telugu film.” The age difference, he feels, provides a mismatch that’s ideal for comedy. “The men from different generations don’t think alike,” he adds. In Naresh’s character, Praveen saw the scope for domestic comedy. “He rues that his day begins with wiping the bottom of his four-year-old son.”
Praveen spent his growing years in different regions of Andhra and Telangana and knows the terrain of Guntur fairly well. “The Maya Bazaar or Chor Bazaar area is notorious. It’s said that if you park your bike there, it will be stolen and dismantled and you’ll have to return to the bazaar to buy the spare parts. This area finds a place in the film,” he says, adding that the principal characters in the film hail from different regions and are in Guntur for a reason. “Sidhu and Shraddha Das are from Chattisgarh-Andhra border, the heroine Rashmi Gautam is from Rayalseema and fish Venkat is from Telangana.
Mahesh Manjrekar has also been roped in to play an important part, which Praveen doesn’t want to elaborate at the moment. “Manjrekar and Shraddha will be dubbing their own voices. I wanted them to speak in their accent. The misplaced commas and pauses in their dialogue rendition give rise to comedy,” says Praveen.
Chandamama Kathalu had an ensemble cast and unfurled in episodes while this one packs in chaos. “This is a confusion comedy. There are certain scenes with more than 20 characters in a frame,” says Praveen. One of the best examples of confusion comedy remains Singeetam Srinivasa Rao’s Michael Madana Kamaraju starring Kamal Haasan. “That film was terrific, the writing was so good,” says Praveen, “While writing this film, I realised that it takes more time to write chaos that makes sense. I had to push a few boundaries, in terms of weaving together the script, decide where to reveal what and how to edit to make the proceedings clear to the audience,” Praveen explains.
The director is confident that Guntur Talkies will connect with the mainstream audience. “I want to make the kind of films I believe in and perhaps the National Award was recognition of that. So I guess I should continue to make films I believe in,” he sums up.
