Spoilers ahead...
Sai Rajesh Neelam has always been drawn to tragic romances. Whether through his admiration for films such as K Balachander's Punnagai Mannan and Mani Ratnam's Mouna Raagam, or through his own writing, the filmmaker has maintained an enduring connection with stories of emotional tragedy. In Ravi Namburi's Telugu romance Chennai Love Story, a film he wrote and co-produced, the interval brings an emotional unravelling, as the protagonist dies in a twist of fate.
It isn't common for heroes in Telugu cinema to die this early in films, says Sai Rajesh Neelam in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India. But it was a gamble that paid off. The Kiran Abbavaram and Sri Gouri Priya film has grossed nearly ₹50 crore at the worldwide box-office. Sai Rajesh recalls coming up with the idea during the time of Baby, the breakout 2023 hit starring Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya.
"The music director of Baby had sent me a BGM tune, and I came up with a situation. I immediately connected it to Mani Ratnam sir's Mouna Ragam interval, where the heroine is waiting in the registrar's office, and the hero tragically dies in a police shooting. So I thought, what if the hero dies in the interval and his soul comes back in the second half?"
He cites 1991 Telugu film Aathma Bandham as an inspiration. "The film was loosely inspired by Demi Moore's Ghost (1990). All my previous films have had a tragic death or trauma. But I didn't want Chennai Love Story to end like that. Instead, I figured it might be a shocker to reveal this during the interval."
Co-producer SKN (Sreenivas Kumar Naidu), who also collaborated with Sai Rajesh on Baby, adds that the unusual interval and setup of the film was a big driver for this romance. "The premiere shows drew mixed reviews, but following the first day, the film ran to houseful shows and took massive openings," he says.
An ardent admirer of K Balachander's work, Sai Rajesh tries to emulate the strong, meaningful characters that women enjoyed in the veteran filmmaker's cinema. "His films such as Maro Charitra in Telugu and Punnagai Mannan in Tamil are my favourites. Almost every film has strong, independent women and deeply grey characters. I wanted this kind of screenplay for my world," he says, noting that he was confident the twist would work. "I just didn't know if we had to reveal the twist before release."
The task for producers today isn't just to bring people to theatres, but to champion original stories that move beyond stereotypes. "Audiences today are turning up for re-release films even though these titles are on YouTube. When there is no excitement, they won't even turn up for a new film's release," he says, noting that it is important for films to break even early to keep the wider trade ecosystem healthy, as Chennai Love Story did.
Calling the pairing of Abbavaram and Gouri Priya an asset to the film, he expands on his commitment to local casting in his productions. "Be it Taxiwala (2018), Baby or Chennai Love Story, we have always cast local heroines. They understand subtleties, and the native flavour is retained even during dialogue delivery. This isn't to speak against any other talent, but when we cast local talent, things blend better. We prefer Telugu actors for our films."