Raj Nidimoru's latest Telugu film has all the elements of a crackling commercial film. But with an element of subversion. Maa Inti Bangaaram, which has crossed over ₹50 crore at the worldwide box office since its release last week, positions a married woman in a cotton sari as the hero with a past, bending the traditional template often reserved for male stars.
In an exclusive interaction with The Hollywood Reporter India, Nidimoru talks about working with his wife and actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu to make a female-driven action film, creating a grounded commercial experience in Maa Inti Bangaaram and his thoughts on "mass cinema".
We've been building up to Samantha taking on a proper action role for a while now, and Maa Inti Bangaaram was a culmination of that. Did you also feel that when you wrote the film?
Once I knew that Sam would be in it, I started customising it using her skill set. It's been long coming, but I haven't made a Telugu film. If I were to start, I wanted to take on the genre while bending it. I always believed it could be done differently while still being commercial and attractive.
You were one of the first ones to spot this hidden talent for action in Samantha with The Family Man 2. Can you tell us what makes her the perfect action heroine?
The Family Man 2 wasn't full of action when we wrote the character Raji. Only when we started seeing how well she could fight did things change. It was surprising because she had never held a gun or thrown a punch before that, from what I remember. But her body language and the way she sold it on screen made us design the character to bring out the action. It was quite a revelation because people hadn't seen that side of her. Naturally, it evolved, and we did quite a bit of action with her in Citadel: Honey Bunny, too.
I think she built it over time. She worked on it, and that is impressive because it is like a second phase where she is tapping into a brand new angle that didn't exist before.
You've created, written and produced the film. What was it like for you to work on the film with Samantha?
DK [his filmmaking partner] usually does a lot of the action when we do our projects. This time I had to take it on myself and work with the fight choreographer and build something very native, real and stylish without screaming 'look at me, how cool I am.' I had to design a lot of scenes on the spot. It's not an expensive film, so we were shooting fast. There was an instance where we were shooting and we pushed her a lot. She's constantly working hard. And as she was about to fight, we realised she had bangles on her. She said the bangles were getting in the way of all the hitting. I told her, 'Why don't you take off your bangles and go for it?' She made the shot cool, and that became the kickstarter to the entire climax.
It was all on the go. It was our film and our little team shooting it, so the flexibility in altering the mood and design as we shot was pretty cool. There is more freedom even though there is restriction in budget and time. Sam is my main design partner on this, and it was a lot of fun.
You've also produced Telugu films like Cinemabandi before. But MIB is the first big Telugu production you've been creatively involved with. Is this the start of your association with Telugu cinema?
I like this idea of making Telugu films this way. I get to create it, produce it and have the right partners to make it with. I have a bunch of stories that I'll curate. I'd love to do more of this. Whether I'm wearing the director's cap or not, I'm creatively fully involved. It is like co-directing with someone. Creatively, I'm always involved in every aspect. I don't need a specific credit or a hat as long as I'm doing it on my own.
Can you talk about your Telugu slate?
We're working on a couple of scripts right now and savouring the current moment and putting the next one on the floors, maybe later this year.
With the success of MIB, do you think audiences are ready for a new kind of commercial film?
Audiences have always been ready, according to me. It's just a matter of giving it to them. Subversion is important in a commercial film. Doing a straightforward commercial film is something I can never do. Even though people are calling me now and saying, 'Wow, you've created such mass moments in the film', I don't know how to define it (laughs). You can get the same high without really sticking to the same root.
The excitement is in changing the boundaries. MIB was a great journey for me in terms of achieving similar commercial results but not having to adhere to what's out there.
Are you a fan of the said "mass" commercial films?
I don't watch many films in the first place. I watch very little, and it is my way to keep a distance in my head from what I'm making, but looking back, somebody actually pointed out how even The Family Man has a massy set-up. What they mean by that is something where the hero does it heroically, and there is a certain high in it. It's just that our approach has been more grounded while trying to build these moments versus pumping it up.
When Srikant Tiwari in The Family Man pulls the boss across the table, slaps him and goes away, it is still a mass moment, I guess. It's just done in a more relatable way.
What does the terrific response of MIB mean to you? Especially at a time when footfalls in theatres are dwindling.
It is quite satisfying. After a long time, I'm going to theatres and watching other people react. It is pretty sweet to see this reaction. People don't usually associate me, Raj & DK, with massy stuff. In our minds, we've always believed that we're as commercial as typical mass entertainers. It's just that we want to respect sensibilities and the craft while creating these moments. I was thrilled to see single screens to multiplexes hooting and clapping. All of these guys are telling me that 'oh my god Raj, I didn't know you were so mass' (laughs). To see that being appreciated by a range of audiences was cool.
Is this also giving you a lot of confidence to back a lot of female-led commercial cinema?
More than a producer, I'd like to look at myself as a filmmaker and a creator. Production comes out of a necessity. If someone else put the money in and backed these, I'd be happy to do it. But whenever you do something new, you'd rather do it yourself. That's what I've learnt over time.
I compare this with Stree (the 2018 hit Hindi horror that he co-wrote with DK). It is kind of a deja vu for me because we got to do a film like this in Telugu this time. I've always believed in female-driven films because there is more excitement in creating a more complicated character when there is a woman in the lead. The payoff is very satisfying. It is a risk in terms of how people see it from a producer's POV, but there's also a great satisfaction in pulling it off.