Suhas: An unlikely hero who is breaking stereotypes in Telugu cinema

Actor Suhas opens up on life after the national recognition for ‘Colour Photo’, as his new Telugu film ‘Writer Padmabhushan’ is gearing up for release

The premise of the Telugu film Writer Padmabhushan, directed by Shanmukha Prashanth, is anything but larger than life. In this family dramedy headlined by Suhas, the protagonist is a 25-year-old aspiring writer. His book gets published but there are not enough takers. The film scheduled to release on February 3 will be Suhas’ first as a hero to court theatres. His earlier film as a solo lead, Colour Photo, which won the National Award for best Telugu feature film, was a direct digital release on Aha during the pandemic.

Suhas says that Writer Padmabhushan was also completed during the pandemic but the producers, his friends Anurag Reddy and Sharath Chandra of Chai Bisket Films, waited for the right time to release the film in theatres. “Shanmukha Prashanth was an assistant director for Colour Photo, and I have known him since our short-film days. He narrated Writer Padmabhushan on the sets of Family Drama (a neo-noir drama on SonyLIV for which Prashanth was a co-writer). I loved the story and we pitched it to Anurag and Sharath anna. The project went on the floor but soon there was a second lockdown.” 

Suhas was anxious that this film too should not end up as a digital release. In Telugu film circles, actors and directors who have consecutive digital releases often got slotted into the OTT space and considered not viable for the box office. 

Recently when Suhas visited the Hyderabad book fair to spread the word about Writer Padmabhushan, a few writers gifted him their new books. Suhas believes that the reading culture is still prevalent. “The film takes place in Vijayawada and my character likes to be surrounded by books and works in a library. The story deals with his ambition and his family situation.” Ashish Vidyarthi and Rohini essay the roles of his parents. 

Although the promos are filled with witty lines, Suhas says there will be a surprise element in the last 20 minutes that will make viewers think about the film. “I would recommend that youngsters take their parents along to watch the movie. There will be a few twists and turns. The director ensured that there is enough entertainment to make everyone laugh.”

A recent film that got viewers talking about Suhas’ performance but did not let the actor leverage it for publicity was the Telugu thriller, HIT 2; viewers were aware that discussing his role would have been a spoiler. Suhas says with a laugh, “For HIT 2, I had to wait patiently till the film finished its successful run in the theatres and arrived on OTT platforms so that I could discuss it after more people watched it.” 

When writer and director Sailesh Kolanu wanted him to play the antagonist, Suhas had asked him again to be doubly sure. “Sailesh was aware of my work in short films and was confident that I could do it.”