Chandoo Mondeti always puts in efforts to make his story stand out from the rest. The director’s first film Karthikeya grabbed attention and nobody was disappointed with his remake of the superhit Premam . Now he is out to surprise us with Savyasachi starring Naga Chaitanya and Nidhi Agarwal.
Savyasachi is an apt title for the film that has its protagonist Naga Chaitanya as an ambidextrous person. The director shares, “It is one of the names of warrior Arjuna, as he could draw a bow with equal dexterity, speed and strength with both hands. Very few people are ambidextrous, but they can write accurately with both hands. I came across a few stories and articles which convey that a man’s character and behaviour are predetermined. Whether a person reacts or not to a situation is based on his character. While I began extending my thoughts after reading such articles, I came across such unique people, and also a few funny scenes; that when I named the character Savyasachi.”
Chandoo says a lot of study has gone into the story. The story has multiple layers — there is Madhavan episode, Chaitanya likes his sister and her daughter; a sub plot shows the relationship between Madhavan and him. How the hero uses his ambedexterity to his advantage is interesting and how the same quality troubles him is amusing.”
Elaborating on the characters, Mondeti says, “Chaitanya is an ad film maker, the heroine owns a store and the hero goes there to do a store advertisement. Bhumika plays the hero’s sister who is elder to him by five years. Madhavan is not necessarily a villain, he has his own reasons for behaving the way he does. Situations play a role in making Madhavan and Chaitanya react in a certain manner; they are both correct in their own way.”
Madhavan’s Telugu debut
On roping in Madhavan, he elaborates, “Madhavan’s choice of films has been very good in the last 6 or 7 years. He has a great physique, he is intellectual. On screen his presence is unmistakable. In the film, Madhavan is a Jack of all trades, master of none. He plays a 40-year-old and doesn’t attempt to cover his grey hair.”
He adds, “When we discussed the purpose of the story and the finale, Madhavan said he liked the story. He didn’t make a debut in a straight Telugu film this long because he thinks he doesn’t know Telugu. If he is doing Savyasachi after his recent film Vikram Vedha which was the ultimate in screen writing it means our plot gave him a high. On the sets, he is easy to work withnever makes a difference between this person and that one, he is bangaram . His experience, ease and intelligence were useful to us.”
Balancing hero-villain equation
Going by recent films, the glorification of villain has jeopardised the hero’s character.
Will Chaitanya’s fans be upset? Chandoo retorts, “We too asked ourselves at script level and tried balancing. Whenever Madhavan is being elevated, we did the same to Naga Chaitanya and tried to create a balance. In the theatre, the negative character gets negative feedback and positive role gets positive remarks. The film is a clear cut commercial story, it is not an intellectual film as the title suggests. All you will see is new stuff. ”
Chandoo has roped in Keeravani to give it a traditional Telugu film feel. He sums up , “Keeravani worked on Lie; it had really good music. Has the film been a hit, the songs would have been noticed. He is so easy to work with.”
Published - March 27, 2018 10:39 am IST
