‘Mem Famous’ to introduce more than 40 newcomers to Telugu cinema

Meet Anurag Reddy, Sharath Chandra and Chandru Mohan, the men behind Telugu films ‘Mem Famous’ and ‘Writer Padmabhushan’

The Telugu film, Mem Famous (we are famous), releasing in theatres on May 26, will introduce more than 40 actors and technicians. The comedy set in rural Telangana follows the journey of a bunch of characters who are considered good-for-nothing by the village and how they strive to make a name for themselves. Debut actor Sumanth Prabhas has also written and directed this film that is being positioned as a fun ride for summer. The men behind this film are the trio — Anurag Reddy and Sharath Chandra of Chai Bisket Films and Chandru Mohan of Lahari Films — who produced the sleeper hit Writer Padmabhushan starring Suhas earlier this year.

Anurag, Sharath and Chandru are in between multiple creative and marketing tasks when they take time out for this interview at their office in Hyderabad. Anurag and Sharath also spearhead First Show, the advertising and marketing agency that designs promotional campaigns for Telugu films — Major and Dasara among the recent prominent examples, and oversee content and production at Chai Bisket Films. They also co-produced the Sandeep Unnikrishnan biopic Major in partnership with Mahesh Babu and Sony Pictures, with a different entity named A+S Films. “We want Chai Bisket Films to be a go-to place for debut actors, writers, directors and technicians while A+S will focus on bigger films,” says Sharath.

Mem Famous is the second film, following Writer Padmabhushan, as part of a three-film deal between Chai Bisket Films and Lahiri Films. The third film is in the works. Sharath is confident that Mem Famous will be a roaring hit like Jathi Ratnalu or Pelli Choopulu. 

It all began when Anurag’s wife stumbled upon a video posted by Sumanth Prabhas, which had a dialogue about love and romance. When she shared it with Anurag, he was impressed. He reached out to Sumanth and was surprised when he learnt that he was a college student. “He was barely 18 or 19; his writing was sharp,” Anurag recalls. 

Having launched several actors and directors (Suhas, Divya Sripada, Srividya Palaparthi, Sandeep Raj and Vidya Sivalenka are a few examples) through their short films on Chai Bisket channel on YouTube, Anurag and Sharath sensed potential. “He is a quick learner,” says Sharath. Sumanth spent a few months with the team of My Village Show in rural Telangana, observing the daily lives of people and Mem Famous took shape.

“I believe that people should have experienced a culture to be able to write with authenticity. For instance, if someone narrates a story set in the USA but has never been there, it never seems realistic to me,” reasons Sharath.

MBA graduates and friends since school days, Anurag and Sharath set up First Show in 2012 and forayed into digital marketing for movies and in 2015, they established Chai Bisket and presented Telugu and English content on their website while simultaneously creating short films for YouTube. Sharath says film production was a natural progression to give a bigger platform for the talent that they had been nurturing.