Director Vassishta: The audience can expect to see Chiranjeevi in an entertaining fantasy film like ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari’

Director Vassishta: The audience can expect to see Chiranjeevi in an entertaining fantasy film like ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari’. About 80% of Chiranjeevi’s 157th film will require visual effects. Academy Award winning music composer M M Keeravani and cinematographer Chota K Naidu are on board.

On an overcast morning, director Mallidi Vassishta is in a relaxed mood at his office in Hyderabad . The pre-production work for his new film starring Chiranjeevi, which will go on floors in November, is on. The director, who debuted with the Telugu fantasy drama Bimbisara, which starred Kalyan Ram in dual roles, surprised many when the announcement of him directing Chiranjeevi’s 157th film was made a few weeks ago. He lets the excitement show, revealing that it will be a fantasy entertainer. “We haven’t seen Chiranjeevi garu in that space since Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari (1990). Our film will place him in a new fantasy world.” 

A fan of Marvel and DC superhero stories as well as Vittalacharya films, Vassishta says plans are on to create a Disney-like entertainer that will engage children and families. “Jagadeka Veerudu… appealed to children of the 90s. I want today’s children to see Chiranjeevi in that zone. I grew up watching fantasy films, cartoons and reading Chandamama stories. The idea for Bimbisara came while watching an old Mickey Mouse cartoon. I have fond memories of watching Tom and Jerry, Shaktimaan, SuperTed and HeMan.” 

The response he received for Bimbisara has given him the confidence to explore fantasy cinema further. “You can take liberties while creating a new world; it can have flying horses, elephants… and endless possibilities. There is a joy in creating a new world, like in Avatar, transporting the audience into it and keeping them emotionally invested.” 

Bimbisara had its share of visual effects that were worked upon with budget constraints. Now, given a larger canvas, he says efforts are on to get the best possible output required for the story. “We are engaging with a number of studios. While the quality of visual effects has to be good, I believe that ultimately the story and the screenplay matter. If you dress up an ordinary story with great VFX, it will not work. We achieved what we set out to with Bimbisara and the audience accepted the film.” Vassishta adds that Chiranjeevi-starrer Anji (2004), a fantasy action-adventure directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, had cutting edge computer graphics for its time.

Directing Chiranjeevi is a dream come true for Vasshista. Growing up in Chennai, he recalls that watching Telugu films in theatres was not easy in the 90s. He would watch Telugu films on video cassettes and occasionally in theatres when he visited his grandparents in Hyderabad. He vividly remembers watching Rowdy Alludu in the theatre and enjoying it. “His emotional portrayal in Aapadbandhavudu is one of my favourites, along with the entertainers such as Gang Leader, State Rowdy and Chantabbai.” 

He recalls his first meeting with Chiranjeevi for the new film. “People gave me dos and don’ts and scared me. Chiranjeevi garu made me feel at ease. He asked me to narrate the story as I would to a friend. The first narration lasted half an hour; he liked the idea and asked me to work on it. I returned a week later and gave a detailed narration for one and a half hours.” 

Is Vasshista a quick writer? “I like to finish writing when an idea is fresh. If I let it sit, I begin to doubt if the idea is good enough.” During the scripting process, he has lengthy discussions with his team members, Srikanth, Aditya and Sridhar. “Srikanth is good at judging a commercial format script; Aditya is well versed in the puranas and Sridhar is good at analysing things in detail. They tell me upfront when they disagree with my ideas.” He also shares his story ideas with his father, producer and distributor Mallidi Satyanarayana Reddy.