Indraganti Mohana Krishna’s movies are meant to be watched with the entire family. His films are not only entertaining but have subtly thought provoking stories. He is a director who never repeats a genre. While he already tried an adaptation of a drama, a fantasy, a screwball comedy, sports and a romantic drama, his next one — Bandipotu — is a crime comedy. Elaborating the style and structure of Bandipotu , he says, “I never came across a concrete crime comedy idea though I wanted to do one. This genre needs style and I was inspired by crime writers such as Edgar Wallace and Raymond Chandler. Edgar Wallace wrote a series of short stories including ‘The Brigand’, which roughly translates to Bandipotu, and Chandler wrote hard boiled detective stories wherein the language was smart and lingo, hard hitting. In Bandipotu the dialogues are edgy and street smart. It might shock people. It needed that quality because it deals with crooks and how one guy takes them to task. It is not about perfect people but about crooks outwitting each other. It is also a social satire in a way. I tried addressing my complaints and anger in a funny way.”
When the director met Allari Naresh, they mutually decided not to do anything experimental and retain the comical aspect without hurting his image. “He said he was tired of having supporting actors around him doing the same verbal comedy. Here you will not find that regular comedy group. There is Sampoornesh Babu, Saptagiri, Rao Ramesh, Posani and Bharani. Naresh is not a victim. There are no spoofs. He is a protagonist with an aim. When you experiment and it fails, you tend to blame the audience without introspecting if the film was made well. A different genre has to be done carefully. The actor’s looks and portrayal should be unique,” avers Mohan Krishna.
When Naresh is not seen doing his regular stuff, how did the filmmaker retain the actor’s image as a comedy star? “I don’t believe in filling the scene with punch lines just to get laughs. I believe in the plot and situations. There has to be a clear, organic progression in a story.” The director has observed that Naresh’s acting style has changed radically. Esha, who was the heroine in Anthakamundu Aataruvata , plays the lead. Naresh saw Esha and expressed his interest to work with a Telugu girl. There are only four songs and have been shot in coastal Andhra, Rajamundry, EVV’s hometown Dommeru and Italy. He adds, “I have explored interesting locations relevant to the story. I don’t like to make my actors dance in front of European monuments and make my film like a tourist brochure. The idea is to capture the mood of the song. We treated Italy like any other location. There is a situational song too.”
The director has a reputation of getting carried away by his story, the length has been an issue with his earlier film. He clarifies, “ Antakamundu required the length. The film dealt with many characters. My earlier film Ashta Chemma was 2 hrs 8 minutes.”
