Director Prasanth Varma on ‘HanuMan’: In this cinematic universe, we will also have a female superhero film

Director Prasanth Varma opens up on his superhero film ‘HanuMan’, starring Teja Sajja and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, how it was filmed with limited resources, the technical aspects, guidance from S S Rajamouli, and why he believes the narrative will strike an emotional chord

HanuMan, the first superhero Telugu film in the Prasanth Varma Cinematic Universe (PVCU), which is poised to release on January 12, has generated interest among moviegoers for its slick visual effects. Starring Teja Sajja as an underdog from the fictional town of Anjanadri, the film explores how he becomes the chosen one to benefit from the superpower of Lord Hanuman and turns a superhero. At his spacious office that functions like a mini studio in Manikonda, Hyderabad, director Prasanth Varma tells The Hindu that his film is not a spectacle like Avatar or Baahubali, but a well-crafted, low-budget superhero film with a narrative structure similar to that of a Disney or a Chandamama comic.

“Teja’s character has a sister (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar), a girlfriend (Amritha Aiyer) and encounters a few problems. How he gets strength from Hanuman and what happens thereafter will drive the story forward,” says Prashant. It has taken three years since the origin of the idea to bring the film closer to its release. The director terms the process “a learning curve”.

At different stages of the film, Prasanth sought the advice of ace director S S Rajamouli and says that technical knowledge and hands-on working methods help, even if there is a dedicated team that looks into the VFX. “We worked with a limited budget and could not afford big studios. We worked with three emerging VFX studios, in which there were technical people who had worked on Rajamouli’s films. They would tell me how Rajamouli sir would sit with them, monitor the developments closely and, at times, take the mouse from their hand to do minute adjustments. I followed a similar method. For example, it can get tough to keep explaining how much depth you are looking at for a visual and it is easier to do the minor adjustments yourself.” 

Prasanth credits Rajamouli for pulling off a seemingly improbable feat for Eega (2012), which would be a challenge even today. Beyond technical aspects, he sought the director’s guidance for the overall presentation of the film. HanuMan began as a Telugu film and grew exponentially “just like the lord himself who grew from strength to strength” and plans were on to dub and release it in 11 languages. “Rajamouli sir told me not to schedule the release in all languages at the same time since it would be too much to handle. So we will release in Indian languages first and then foreign languages, including French.”

The story of HanuMan came from Prasanth and was then developed by his team at Scriptsville, a writing team he co-founded with his sister Sneha. Talking about Telugu cinema’s recent phenomenon of engaging with a writers’ room, Prasanth says the term is an extension of what used to be story discussions in earlier years. The advantage lies in getting varied perspectives, with respect to social moorings of different characters and gender-wise insights. However, the final call, he says, rests with the director who should decide what would be best suitable for a film. Prasanth adds that it is imperative to clearly spell out the credit and compensation for writers, to avoid conflicts. 

HanuMan will unravel in Anjanadri, a town set in a parallel universe. The country is named Akhand Bharat and Prasanth says it gave him ample creative liberty, “I wanted to imagine an India that has not been through Mughal and British invasions. Akhand Bharath is a contemporary parallel world. The people behave very much like we do. Baahubali has been released in that world too. But they do not have a city like Mumbai.”

This parallel world will be the stage for further superhero films that will roll out after HanuMan. In the pipeline are Athira and an untitled film that will have a female superhero. Prasanth is eager to rope in a female director for the latter film. “I will not be directing all the superhero films in this universe, since I want to dabble in other genres. We have spent considerable time in world building, detailing the history of the parallel world and we have a blueprint for all the films. We will begin work on these films soon after HanuMan’s release.”