Director Chandoo Mondeti says that working on the Telugu remake of Premam has made him a responsible filmmaker and helped him to understand the commerce of cinema. Premam is slated for release this Friday. Starring Naga Chaitanya, Shruti Haasan, Anupama Parameswaran and Madonna Sebastian, the film is produced by S. Naga Vamsi.
He refused that there was any pressure on him. “Thanks to the faith my producer and Chaitu (Naga Chaitanya) had in me, I felt no pressure.”
Recalling how the project materialised, Chandoo says, “Chaitu and I were supposed to team up for a thriller. Around the same time, I watched Premam and fell in love with it. I shared my excitement with Chaitu and within a week’s time, he was flooded with offers to star in the film’s remake. Soon, work began on full swing on the remake.”
While Chaitanya reprises Nivin Pauly’s role from the original, Shruti will be seen in the celebrated role of Malar, played by Sai Pallavi in the original. Her inclusion has drawn a lot of flak. Chandoo thinks she has done full justice to the role.
“When you watch the film, you will understand why we cast her. She has terrific screen presence. We were certain we needed a star heroine (Shruti Haasan) to draw the crowds,” he said, admitting that Shruti, who is quite popular among Telugu audiences, was brought in for commercial reasons.
“People need to understand that the original Premam was made with zero expectations, and on a tight budget. Given their budget, they could take the risk and it paid off. We are making the film with a star and people have bet big on the project,” he explained.
From the day of its launch, comparisons have been made with the original. “Comparisons were bound to be there. We knew we might not be able to satisfy 10-15 percent of the audience who might have already watched the original. However, we were confident the film will appeal to the remaining audience,” he said.
After the film’s first song Evare was released, the internet was inundated with nasty memes that attacked Shruti Haasan in particular.
“The trolls got us worried. I wondered if the reactions will affect the film’s opening. I called up my producer to discuss the same. To our surprise, it was after the release of the song that exhibitors started buying the film from the distributors. Everybody in the industry loved the song,” he said.
