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‘Sreenu Vaitla didn’t take the 72 scenes I wrote for Bruce Lee’
Highlights
Courtesy brand Kona Venkat, ‘Shankarabharanam’ is hitting the right notes as far as pre-release promotions are concerned. The ace writer, in a conversation with Hans Talkies, talks about what went into the making of the crime comedy and his ‘ongoing’ row with director Sreenu Vaitla.
Kona Venkat talks about his second fall out with Sreenu Vaitla, the ‘Bruce Lee’ fiasco, ‘Shankarabharanam’ and more…
Courtesy brand Kona Venkat, ‘Shankarabharanam’ is hitting the right notes as far as pre-release promotions are concerned. The ace writer, in a conversation with Hans Talkies, talks about what went into the making of the crime comedy and his ‘ongoing’ row with director Sreenu Vaitla. ‘Shankarabharanam’ is name a people generally associate with K Vishwanath’s cult classic. But Kona insists that he was never in a quandary as such to convince the acclaimed filmmaker for the title. “Absolutely not! I met Vishwanath garu and spoke to him about the title. He said he has complete confidence in abilities and that I will justify the title. He did not even ask me the story but as a mark of respect I briefed him the script. He was pleased and later even unveiled a song,” explains the writer.
Ask Kona on why did he chose Bihar as the film’s setting and he responds, “I was the Executive Producer of a Hindi film ‘Shool’ (1999). The film mirrored the politician-criminal nexus and the criminalisation of politics in Bihar. Many advised us not to shoot in Bihar and when I went on a location scout, I was given six gunmen as protection against kidnapping. So abduction is a major business in Bihar and since then I had the idea of making a film in such a backdrop. Recently, we acquired the rights of ‘Phas Gaye Re Obama’, so I blended my idea and certain portions of the Hindi film and penned a crime drama. Since it is difficult to shoot in Bihar, we shot near the Maharashtra state border.”
The film is about an NRI Gautham (Nikhil), who returns to India and how his life takes a dramatic spin after a series of happenings in Bihar. “The reason I chose the protagonist name as Gautham is because even Gautham Buddha’s (Founder of Buddhism) life took a turn after coming to Bihar. After the release of the film, I’m sure even the audience will be convinced with the title,” he says with an air of confidence.
Given his experience and clout, he could have made the film with a star hero, right? “Yes, but star heroes always come with a fan baggage and expectations. For this film, I wanted only the protagonist’s character to be elevated, not his image. Since Nikhil had made interesting choices in his career, I went ahead with him.”
Kona admits that all is not well between him and Sreenu Vaitla. “How can it be? Our association is currently on a ventilator, that’s all I can say,” he laughs.
So where did it all gone wrong again? “I’m the co-writer (along with Sreenu) and penned 72 scenes for ‘Bruce Lee’. But he did not take any of them and you all know the result. I’m not complaining that he did not take my scenes; as a director, he has the final authority to take a call on what all he wants. But the trust that Kona-Sreenu combo can create magic was broken amongst the buyers, distributors and the audience,” sighs the writer.
- Sashidhar Adivi
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