Prithviraj will play the late biscuit baron Rajan Pillai in a biopic. The project is in the writing and research stage, says Siddarth Anand Kumar, senior vice-president at Saregama India. “We have the permission of Rajan Pillai’s wife, Neena Pillai. The research has to be extensive because there isn’t much published material on the late entrepreneur’s life. We are also figuring out how each part of the story lends itself to a particular format – whether it would be best as a film or as a web series. Prithviraj is invested in the project.”
The actor had collaborated with Siddarth for his Malayalam film Kaapa and is now working with him for Khalifa, directed by Vyshakh.
Prithviraj in a still from Kaapa | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
The production company has also entered into a “loose collaboration” with Tovino Thomas. They are also co-producing Tovino’s Malayalam films Anveshippin Kandethum, and Kasaragold, helmed by Mridul Nair and starring Asif Ali, Sunny Wayne and Vinayakan.
Tovino Thomas | Photo Credit: Sibin Salim
Siddarth says that a pan-Indian film is a holy grail that everyone in the film industry is searching for. “But I don’t think we can set out to make a pan-Indian film. Perhaps the first such film in recent times is Bahubali. Then came Ponniyan Selvan (PS) and Kantara. What I find interesting is that each of these films is based on strong content and interesting story-telling.”
Pointing out that while PS was rooted in Tamil history and literature, Kantara was based on folklore and the regional culture of a village in Karnataka. Bahubali was an interesting mix of mythology that had elements of the Mahabharatha and Ramayana.
“We need to make a good film with rooted storytelling. Then we have the potential for it to become a pan-Indian film,” he says.
Siddarth Anand Kumar, senior vice-president of Saregama India | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Siddarth believes that during the two years of the pandemic, cinema-going viewers got used to watching films on OTT, and the reluctance to watch dubbed or subtitled content dropped. He feels that now, if a film is good and there is good word-of-mouth publicity from the region where the film originated, then it has a good chance of being watched everywhere else, thereby becoming a pan-Indian film.
“Why should we be shuttered into a regional syndrome, where a Punjabi will not watch a Tamil film? Irrespective of language, people are receptive to watching good content.”
Siddarth says that by March-end, Saregama will be coming up with announcements about projects in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
