A father takes a son to court...over a toothbrush. Sudhakar Reddy and Muralidhar Goud are back together after Balagam to marshal audiences to this Telangana-set family drama, releasing in theatres on August 14. Pallaburusu might not boast big stars, but it is the kind of film that legendary Telugu actor and producer Akkineni Nageswara Rao would have relished being part of, feels the co-producer of the film and Executive Director of Annapurna Studios, Supriya Yarlagadda.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, producers Yarlagadda and Vivek Krishnani (Epic Studios) talk Pallaburusu and the need for distributors and producers to work together to restore a healthy ecosystem.
What was the starting point of the film for Annapurna, and how did it all come together?
Supriya Yarlagadda: We have a small set of people who are constantly listening to stories. They came to me and said, ‘We think you should hear this; it's very sweet.’ So I sat down for a narration.
Some people are very passionate narrators and storytellers, but the story may not land with you. So you may go back and say, 'Please come back with something else.' But sometimes they come through on both aspects. This was one such experience for me. It felt like the director was telling the story from knowing and experiencing it rather than just being a third-person narrator.
Vivek Krishnani: It's a story about a generational conflict. It has this reference to the simplicity of people living in a very regional, rural setup. Nagarjuna sir explained it very well when he said, “It's our story, it's your story, it's a story about my father, it's a story about my grandfather. And tomorrow, it's going to be a story about your next generation.”
The film also marks the reunion of Sudhakar Reddy and Muralidhar Goud after the beloved drama Balagam...
Supriya: This is a story about how we fight with the ones we love. So who will be the faces that look like our everyday in this rooted setup? Sudhakar Reddy garu is one such person who comes with such a great journey of being so rural, being a teacher in a rural school, loving art, performing and writing for theatre. It was a limited pool, but they were our obvious choices.
How important is it for Annapurna to tell stories with actors and elder gentlemen who have been waiting for years for such opportunities?
Supriya: So many aspects of this film reflected that this is Akkineni Nageswara Rao’s story; this is thatha Garu's [Akkineni Nageswara Rao] story. He came from these backgrounds. He came from a rural background.
He worked as an artist in theatre, made it, and he became a star. People talk about his journey after he became a star, right? Whenever Sudhakar Reddy Garu spoke, or any of these people spoke of their journeys, it reflects many conversations my grandfather used to have with us.
My heart felt so warm when Sudhakar Reddy Garu said our production took care of them. And if Annapurna does not do it, who will do it? We are the ones who have benefited from such a person who has given us all of this.
A film like Pallaburusu makes me happy because I feel that my grandfather would be happy that we made this film. He would've looked at this film and said, 'Why don't you cast me?' And then I'd have to explain and be like, 'You can't speak Telangana slang'. He'd have said, 'I'll audition, make me do it and get your director to do it.'
What are the challenges of making a film like this that isn't mounted with star power?
Supriya: Momentum. You can lose momentum in mounting them. Because [with big films], you always have this thing that a director's dates are going to go, or an actor's dates are going to go. That itself brings about a certain momentum of moving things.
My one thing to these guys is, ‘Come and harass me. Come and just be there every day (laughs).' So I'm seeing you and I realise, ‘Oh my God, this needs to be done.’ It's very easy for us to turn around saying, ‘No, not this quarter, we'll do it next quarter.’ What does that mean for them? It means another three months of waiting, right?
Vivek: I think what also happens in a film like this is that sometimes you're also pushed into protecting the originality of the film. Sometimes there is this thing of, ‘Oh, we need to make it more commercial.’ There's a temptation to make it more familiar, more conventional in that sense. But we had to actually keep reminding ourselves that the reason we responded to the film in the first place was very different. It has a unique story. So the idea is not to over-engineer it, to keep the humour, keep the emotion.
At a recent press event, Nagarjuna Akkineni spoke about the importance of restoring the original distribution system and why Annapurna is going to actively bring about this change. Can you speak about the difference that will bring?
Supriya: In the past, one of the systems that has worked well is that a set of distributors worked with a set of producers. There is a network that backs a film production. They don't necessarily buy the film outright. High-attention films get bought. But who will buy Pallaburusu? I need a good distribution network to take Pallaburusu to the right theatres and ensure it gets the right shows, the right publicity in the centres, and even if 100 people watch the movie, the money from it should get equitably distributed to the producer.
Only when this system is in place will the producer be able to come out and make the next film. Being a producer and making a film isn't very streamlined. One of the pieces of that is a distribution network. We have traditionally been the beneficiaries of having strong distributors since my grandfather's time. When my father was producing Shiva and other films in the 80s and 90s, they'd have a list of distributors asking when our next film was starting and who was in it. It could've been a smaller film too, but they'd ask how much needed to be sent as an advance payment, which might have been a small amount. But this showed faith.
Now you have various models, but the smaller film, which isn't among the most wanted films, doesn't know how to navigate this. That's where Annapurna and Nagarjuna garu have maintained that if somebody believes in their film, they can bring it to us and maybe we can distribute it well.
Vivek: The erstwhile distributors were an example of a crowdfunding exercise today. The producer is a custodian of a dream until it becomes a reality. Along the way, he has to solve 100 problems before breakfast every day.
Supriya: And they aren't nice problems (laughs). The first buck comes from the producer and the last buck goes to the producer. If we have an ecosystem that respects production and producers, I think films will be healthy.