A few years back Satish Vegesna’s Sathamanam Bhavati was pitted against big films for Sankranti release and it emerged a winner and even won a National Award. This year too, his Entha Manchivadavura starring Kalyan Ram and Mehreen Kaur, will be releasing around the same time,competing with Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikunthapurramloo and Mahesh Babu’s Sarileru Neekevvaru, directed by Trivikram Srinivas and Anil Ravipudi respectively.
Satish believes his story has an audience and it is coming out at a time after people would have finished watching the other two. Ask him if his films and its titles aren’t driving away youth from the theatres, aren’t his family dramas getting too moralistic? He admits that his films Srinivasa Kalyanam or SathamanamBhavati are message-oriented but Entha Manchivadavura will be a commercial film, with the message not being so pronounced. “All the titles of my films are positive. They are in tune with the characters and not an exercise in elevating the hero’s image in the market. In this film we show that to spread love, one need not be related by blood. When we help and are good to others, our families and society prosper. The hero is one such character who everyone considers a manchi abbayi (good boy) .”
Satish Vegesna
The film is Aditya Music’s first venture into movie production. A friend of the producer apparently saw a Gujarati film and suggested that it could work in Telugu as well, so rights were brought and Satish made 70 % percent changes in his style. The core point was however kept untouched. Satish observes the film has a universal point, “When I saw it, I thought it was like one of the stories I write. The director of Oxygen came to the sets and watched the shoot, he was happy with the changes and is planning to direct it in Hindi as well.” He also reveals that the story is inspired by a Japanese man Ishii Yuichi who started ‘Rent a Friend’ business wherein he sends people as emotional support; it has a business angle too. In this film, the business part has been deleted and the story is made to suit the native audience.
Satish adds, “Sometimes, you need to talk to someone when you are alone. One needs to find that ‘someone’ to talk to for emotional support. A man says his daughter is upset because his mother died and perhaps a grandmother could help her. So a person in an old age home is approached and sent to their home.”The film is told in an entertaining way. Rajiv Kanakala plays the villain. Annapurna does a one-minute role but adds value to the story. Mehreen, Tanikella Bharani, Baladitya, Suhasini, Sarat Babu, Subhalekha Sudhakar are the rest of the cast.
Satish signs off, “I was aware that I was dealing with a commercial hero but I didn’t drive the story for him. The character is important here.”
