As one drives up the incline and taking a left and right turn till the very end of Road no. 25 in Jubilee Hills and gets into the 70-acre spread of almost forest-like expanse of land that locals call ‘Bhooth Bungalow’, the sight of a railway track makes the traveller wonder.
And then further inside this stretch of land, the sight of an entire town makes one stop in amazement. Welcome to Rattanpur, the habitation specially erected by art director Brahma Kadali for actor Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Sardaar Gabbar Singh’ (SGS), directed by K.S. Ravindra – or Bobby, as he is popularly known – at a whopping cost of almost Rs. 5 crore.
A quick look around revealed that it had just about everything a town should these days, including a railway line, a few goods bogies, an overhead service reservoir, a hair saloon, general store, petrol-filling station, post office, library, and of course, the quintessential police station – all made of wood, plywood and a little bit of steel. The set was unveiled for the media as part of the movie’s publicity, and even as photographers went around shooting everything in sight, the director ‘made himself available’ for an interaction with scribes. As reporters shook their heads, amazed, Bobby revealed bits and pieces of information about SGS, just his second as director, after ‘Power’ in 2014. He recalled how in November the same year, producer Sharrath Marar told him that Mr. Kalyan wanted to meet him. Then the young director was hit by a thunderbolt of disbelief in November, 2014, when 15 minutes into the first meeting, the star told him that he would direct the film.
“I pinched myself to see if I heard it right. And after the meeting, I could hardly wait to inform Ravi Teja before telling my wife and dad about the assignment that I had just bagged,” the director said, expressing his disbelief.
Fielding questions about how it was working with Mr. Kalyan, who is credited with the story and screenplay for the first time, Bobby said it was a humbling, learning experience. “It took me five months to adapt and adopt the story given to me for the film I was told to direct. Once that was done, the pre-production and other related works needed focus. Being near Mr. Kalyan is extremely inspiring, a source of strength, and we were able to finally get it done. The one-and-a-half-year project is over and the package is complete, ready for release,” he said.
