Director Shankar interview: On ‘Game Changer,’ Ram Charan’s explosive energy, and whether films can propagate a change

Director Shankar speaks about ‘Game Changer,’ Ram Charan’s explosive energy, his dream project ‘

Most journalists patiently awaiting an interaction with filmmaker Shankar would have their minds set on how candidly or otherwise the filmmaker would address their questions. Has the failure of last year’s Indian 2 made him a more reluctant speaker? Surely the incessant trolling has gotten to him? Is he nervous about how the audiences would receive his Telugu debut, Game Changer, starring the now globally renowned RRR star Ram Charan?

Conversely, from the moment he steps into the forum, Shankar embodies an evident, stoic sense of optimism. His calm demeanour reasserts that perhaps he is bigger than the failure of one project.

Negative reviews have never affected him, he says. “We have to accept it. Everyone has the right to criticize and so we need to take negative reviews as challenges to overcome.” He says that he always sets his eyes on what needs to be done in the present, and when a film is over, on what needs to be done next.

His Game Changer, set for release on Sankranti next week, initially began during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown as an interim project that would allow him to spread his wings without burning a hole in the pockets. “Because there were uncertainties, and restrictions were imposed on film productions. I was already working on Indian 2 and 3, and the scripting for Velpari was in full swing. The two other stories I had needed big budgets; one was a VFX film that needed a fresh face as the hero, and the other was a spy thriller that demanded shooting in foreign locales. I wanted something different and the prospect of adapting someone else’s story excited me.” And that’s when writer-director Karthik Subbaraj brought the story of Game Changer, after which it went through a process to become more Shankar-ish. As the promos have teased, the film centres on a conflict between an IAS officer, played by Charan, and a politician, played by SJ Suryah. “There’s a backstory to who this officer is, and the shape that the story takes amidst this war is the most exciting part of the film.”

Before you can pose a question on the political theme of the film, Shankar dismisses the notion that all his films take an anti-corruption stand. “Just because these films deal with politics, people boil down the issues spoken about to just one word: corruption. But there are different facets to it; there are different kinds of governance, and in this film, we have tried to explore the powers and boundaries of an IAS officer,” he explains, while also clarifying that Charan’s character isn’t inspired by any real-life officers, like, say, TN Seshan. “As a story evolves, it might shape up to carry a few resemblances to real life, but we didn’t design the character based on a single person.”

Making a straight Telugu film has been a longtime wish for Shankar, who is grateful for the love the Telugu audiences have shown to the dubbed versions of his films. The familiarity of his school of cinema in the Telugu-speaking states also meant that he needn’t crack a new film language to cater to their sensibilities. “I approached it the usual way I do all my films. But because it’s my first straight Telugu film, and since the story demanded it, I had to inculcate Telugu culture, lifestyle and traditions,” he says.

It’s old news that heroism and the ‘elevation’ of the male hero sell like hot cake in Telugu cinema, but Shankar needn’t do anything specific to elevate Ram Charan. “In all my films, the story’s structure would inherently elevate the heroism; the script had it and when a star like Ram Charan comes in, it falls into place.” Charan, he adds, possesses what he calls a ‘suppressed explosive energy’ within. “His performance reflects this; even when he subtly conveys something, you feel a power surging, ready to explode. He knows where to keep it low-key and how to unleash this energy when the scenes require it from him.”