Shiva Nirvana’s Irumudi has become a powerful game-changer for Telugu cinema in more ways than one. The Ravi Teja-starrer, which has grossed ₹200 crore at the worldwide box office, has quickly become the Telugu superstar’s career-best milestone as a lead, with its moving story tracing the life of an Ayyappa devotee and his daughter.
Shiva recalls wanting to make an intense film right after Kushi (2023), a romance in which he directed Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
“I deliberately wanted to work on an intense script, and when it worked, it gave me the confidence that my intentions had paid off,” says Shiva Nirvana in an exclusive conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India. “This gives me a lot of scope to attempt unconventional writing and engage the audience with the screenplay. More than the box-office collection, this is what makes me the happiest. That's the best part of Irumudi's success.”
In an interview with THR India, the filmmaker discusses why Ravi Teja was the perfect fit for the role, and what it took to make an effective commercial drama without losing sight of its core.
Can you talk about Ravi Teja and how you thought of him for the role? The role is unlike anything he's played before.
From the beginning, I thought of exploring the story of an Ayyappa swamy devotee who has his share of vulnerability and how he deals with life before and after the 41 days of the Ayyappa deeksha. I found this conflict very interesting, but never imagined any hero during the writing process.
Once I finished writing the script for Irumudi, I was wondering who to pitch it to. Then Ravi Teja sir came to mind... he has this relatable masculinity. Over the years, he has done 77 films, of which a lot of which have been for kids, families, the youth, and the fans. At the ground level, he has made deep connections with every kind of audience.
Ayyappa Swamy devotees grow beards for 41 days, so I needed someone who looked like their uncles, fathers and brothers. Ravi Teja has the build of someone strong and resilient, and you can see him as your father or your Babai. He has great body language and can perform anything, whether it is a high note in the action or a low note in the emotion.
The action scenes in the film are slick but also incredibly grounded. Especially the chase scene during the Ayyappa deeksha, when Trinath fights off offenders without hurting anyone.
I knew that the film had enough scenes in it to create tension and an adrenaline rush. But I didn't want to do it in a way audiences are used to seeing in commercial cinema. I wanted to blend it well into the genre. So I stayed away from loud dialogue and instead relied on top light, tight close-up shots. I wanted to create tension with the craft and quality of the filmmaking, and not just elevation moments through low-angle and top-angle shots.
Did you see this as a gamble?
I didn't expect the film to become this sort of a blockbuster, but I was confident that people would connect with the experience, and that it would work commercially. I look at the collections as a bonus. The audience took this film to another level.
What was your brief to Ravi Teja?
He's very simple and doesn't take much stress. If he had any doubts about things, he would ask me and do it. He never saw the monitor, and gave me that much freedom. Once he decided to do a film with me, he decided to leave everything to me.
If I'd asked him to do certain things just for the fans, the film might have gotten spoiled. So I never deviated from my vision and the script. He believed in me, and that was the first step for this blockbuster.
What was it like to cast the character of Manikanta? The child's role in the film is unlike many templated depictions we've seen before.
Normally in family dramas, we tend to cast bubbly and cute kids, sometimes from the North. I wanted to break a lot of these templates with Manikanta's casting. Language isn't an issue, but I wanted her to be from the South. After 180 profiles, we shortlisted six kids, and we finalised the child actor Nakshathra from Kerala.
The film has a powerful message for parents: that daughters should be raised with courage, not fear. How important was it for you to leave audiences with this message?
I wanted to hit the audience hard subconsciously, and not through preachy speeches. By the end of Irumudi, you'll know that there's a message. It's not that someone is telling you to give daughters courage. You get the message from Trinath's story.
Ravi Teja sir loved the dialogue about Manikanta telling her father everything. He told me that this dialogue was going to drive the entire script.
With films like Irumudi, we're also noticing the rise of a new kind of legacy star commercial film. Would you agree and was that also your intention?
I firmly believed in this. All of the top stars are superb artistes. If a star calls me after Irumudi, I will first assess the artist's ability and explore that trait. When I include that particular acting prowess in my script, it will give the audience a new experience. There are so many filmmakers who can do many other things for stars, but I'd like to continue on this path.