Vivek Athreya: ‘Ante Sundaraniki’ is Nani-Nazriya’s romance and a social commentary

Writer-director Vivek Athreya opens up on the Nani-Nazriya Telugu film ‘Ante Sundaraniki’, which he terms as a contemporary social commentary

Vivek Athreya, the Telugu writer-director who debuted with the romance drama Mental Madhilo and followed it up with the black comedy Brochevarevarura, is one of the promising new voices of Telugu cinema. His new Telugu film Ante Sundaraniki, a conversational drama starring Nani and Nazriya, has caught attention with its humour-laced promos. During this interview amid finalising the film’s post production, Vivek asserts that while the film appears like a humorous interfaith romance, there is a lot more at play. 

Ante Sundaraniki, which will be dubbed in Tamil as Adede Sundara and in Malayalam as Aha Sundara, revolves around two worlds - that of Sundar’s (Nani) Hindu Brahmin household where traditional, at times superstitious, practices rule, and Leela Thomas’s (Nazriya) Christian household where the father has the last word. 

Vivek refrains from revealing the central conflict, through which he intends to take the audiences by surprise: “This film is the story of Sundar and Leela. We are not only looking at the portions essayed by Nani and Nazriya as adults but also at things that occurred in their childhood which are crucial to the story.” 

Social commentary 

The idea, he recalls, came up nearly five years ago: “I thought the core issue and the story would make for an exciting, contemporary social commentary.” He was aware that he had to tread carefully without hurting religious sentiments. Vivek’s writing is usually layered and has enough room for humour, even when he discusses serious issues.  In Brochevarevarura, beneath the crackling comedy was a coming-of-age story of friends, a young woman learning to assert herself, mending of a father-daughter relationship, and more. “Humour comes naturally to me. I cannot hold a serious conversation for more than a few minutes. That tendency seeps into my writing as well.” 

Vivek had initially pitched another story that would require an ensemble cast to Mythri Movie Makers. When the production house asked if he had a story that would suit Nani, Vivek put forth the idea of Ante Sundaraniki. The actor loved the script and came on board. Both Vivek and Nani thought someone like Malayalam actor Nazriya would be perfect as the leading lady, Leela: “Then Nani suggested we approach Nazriya.” 

Nazriya had not worked in any Telugu film until then and did not know the language. Vivek, however, knew that Nazriya could understand Tamil. Having worked in IBM, Chennai, for five years, Vivek is fluent in the language. He narrated the story to Nazriya over a Zoom call. “The script is non-linear. Nani suggested that I take a linear approach to the narration. She reacted with enthusiasm when I began narrating and I went ahead and gave her a detailed, non-linear narration that lasted a few hours.”