Nandini Reddy on Flipping The 'Baasha' Template For Samantha's Comeback In 'Maa Inti Bangaaram'

We all know what the 'Baasha' template is. A family man is forced to look back on a life he left behind when his past comes knocking on the door. We've seen this narrative get inventive iterations over the years. But Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nandini Reddy's upcoming Telugu action film makes one important change to this time-tested and beloved story arc. What if it's a woman, a newly married homemaker whose past forces her to take on the mob?

Maa Inti Bangaaram unites Reddy with Samantha for the second time following their hit Telugu fantasy comedy Oh Baby (2019). Written by Raj Nidimoru and Vasanth Maringanti, the June 19 release follows the life of a homemaker (played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu), who is forced to reckon with her action-packed past. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Reddy speaks about making Samantha do everything we've loved seeing her do, even if that means dancing with abandon and thrashing the bad guys in a sari.

Can you talk to us about the starting point of the film?

The story and the seed of the idea were brought to me by Raj Nidimoru. Sam then approached me to direct it. They were going to get into the screenplay at that point when I joined in. I heard the idea and found it pretty cool. Raj said he used to come across these columns in newspapers for a bride about the qualities that a bride should have. But what if a girl doesn't have all these qualities? Where does she fit? That was an interesting question for me. Of course, women constantly stand up to benchmarks, but when you look at the overall society, there is a need for us to live up to parental expectations; there is a need to meet Instagram validation for us to be perceived as good, successful people. 

What if you are not that? Can you get accepted for who you are? That was a relevant thought for today's times. He said that he wanted to flip this whole 'Baasha', 'History of Violence' format where you have a classic hero template. The hero is somebody with a past, and that is coming back to threaten everything he has fought to protect. This is a template we have seen with heroes. Now when we're doing this for a woman, how does it change the dynamic? What are the stakes? I saw an amazing setting for a beautiful, commercial and fun film in this space.

Being a Baasha on top of a newly married woman must bring a lot more stakes, right?

Exactly my point. Once you find out he's Baasha, he'll put up his lungi and go beat everybody up. But here, if you're not that pristine kind of woman everyone thought you were and come with a past, what does it change? And how are you accepted?

What was it like to position Samantha as the action heroine? It feels like we've been building up to this point.

It's been sort of a natural extension of where she was from Family Man and Citadel, you know? Yashoda had a bit of action, but it wasn't a full-fledged action role. I think it was about time. 

What was it like to collab with her again after Oh Baby?

It's always great to collaborate with Sam. She brought Oh Baby to me, just as she did with this film. We do really well in the space of family and humour, and this one has this dash of action thrown in. Raj was always there as a guiding force to oversee the process. It was the best kind of way to get into an action film. 

You share a friendship with Sam. How does that factor in when you make a film with her? Does your friendship become a strength?

It does because there is a deep sense of trust. We've always promised each other that we'll always be brutally honest with each other and do what is best for the film. We must both see the absolute final picture. 

We constantly talk about stuff all the time. As a friend, I will keep in mind how her energy levels are, comfort, discomfort, how much to push her, where to push her, where not to, where to, and when she asks for one more, I never say no. I know where she's coming from. I pay keen attention to what she's saying because she has some very valid points from the character point of view. It's always great working with a buddy. 

She’s also coming after her break, and she’s spoken about how this is like her Sam 2.0 right with the kind of films and projects she’s choosing? Was there also a lot of pressure in giving her the best comeback possible?

She's a fantastic business person. Her eye for detail and hunger to learn new things. She's always like a first-time student when she's venturing into anything new. She's very hands-on as a producer, likewise. So, we had to kind of actually cordon off certain information from her to not get her stressed because she's also acting and producing. So, Raj, me and Himank Duvvuru, my other producer, would have a separate group which we didn't kind of tell her about for quite some time. So, we can firefight without her having to take so much stress. 

And with this film, I kept looking at it from an outside point of view always. I'm seeing Sam after five years, so what would I want her to do? I was insisting that she should dance. And Raj was also hesitant because the song-dance thing is not something that he's done or anything. But I said, no, I want an absolute full-fledged song, and I want Sam dancing. Because there was no compromise on that. I just put my foot down for the both of them (laughs).

I'd like to see Sam do all the things we have loved seeing her doing and more of it. Apart from being a great actor, she's such a star. She's so well-loved. She's not a cutesy teenager anymore. Keeping in mind the maturity that she has and still making all those elements work was important. And to make her shine absolutely brightly again. Because that's what people want to see. 

I know how they will be waiting to see that film, so to reach those expectations is 100% pressure. 

Is it easier today to back and make a female-centric film?

I think it's much more challenging now because generally the cinema business has become challenging. And female-centric films are always harder to sell because 70 to 80% of your audience is male. So you have to appeal to them also, you know. Yeah. So now couple that with footfalls coming down.