The Legend of a Warrior

Come January, 2011 Angarajyam is going to be the battlefield where an unlikely warrior defeats the evil sorceress to save the world and the whole of mankind. Hemanth Kumar unravels the behind the scenes action of the upcoming fantasy film Anaganaga O Dheerudu and it looks nothing like we have ever seen before.

Once upon a time, in a world where sorcery reigned supreme, when all hope seemed to fade away, an unlikely warrior took up the mantle to destroy all evil and save the world. The legend of Angarajyam – a tear shaped island reeling under the rule of an evil queen Irendri, resonates as the quintessential bedtime story about warriors and demons we have grown up reading or hearing from our elders. But what’s exciting now is that, this legend of Angarajyam narrated in Anaganaga O Dheerudu is going be the biggest onscreen spectacle ever made in Telugu cinema!

Telugu cinema’s infatuation with fantasy isn’t new. One of the first blockbusters, Pathala Bhairavi made in 1951 set the trend for hundreds of more films in this genre. Countless films starring NTR, ANR, Kantha Rao, Narasimha Raju were made from 50s till 70s. And then the genre took a backseat for quite some time until K Raghavendra Rao resurrected the genre in his cult hit Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, starring Chirajeevi and Sridevi in 1990. However it wasn’t a full-fledged fantasy film either. Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s Bhairava Dweepam starring Balakrishna and Roja which released in 1994 was just a blip on the radar, although the film was a huge hit. The new wave of romance and family entertainers in Telugu cinema almost killed the fantasy genre over the next few years. And then came S S Rajamouli’s blockbuster films Yamadonga and Magadheera which gave the much needed thrust to this genre. Now, it is the turn of Anaganaga O Dheerudu, directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, son of K Raghavendra Rao. It is Prakash Kovelamudi’s second film as a director, the first film being Bommalata. The film has Siddharth in the lead role as a warrior named Yodha and also marks the debut of Shruti Haasan and Lakshmi Manchu in Telugu cinema.

An IT Engineering grad and a theatre arts student from Lee Strasberg Institute, New York, Prakash Kovelamudi, started off his career as an actor in Neetho back in 2002 and then starred in a critically acclaimed film Morning Raga directed by Mahesh Dattani in 2004. Two years later, he made his directorial debut with Bommalata (A Belly Full of Dreams, in English) which was judged the Best Telugu Film at the 53rd National Awards. Now, in his first mainstream film he has helmed a Rs 35 crore project! He has written, co-produced and also directed the film. So, how did this leap of faith happen? “I wouldn’t say it’s a leap of faith. It’s what the script demanded. In my earlier film (Bommalatta), we had pushed the boundaries in terms of storytelling and you can expect something similar in this film too,” says Prakash, as a matter-of-fact thing, adding, “I like stories based on mythology and fantasy which give immense possibilities to explore in terms of story-telling.”

Having grown up in a family of legendary filmmakers like his grandfather Surya Prakash Rao and his father K Raghavendra Rao, who has more than 105 films to his credit as a director, Prakash agrees that they have had some influence at a subconscious level. “I love films like Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari and Lord of the Rings,” shares Prakash as we try to delve deep in to the inspiration behind writing the story of Anaganaga O Dheerudu.

What was the biggest challenge while writing the script? “I was confident about the story; however the challenge was to not let my imagination run wild and stay within the budget limits.” Talking about the story of the film, not many know that it wasn’t a full-fledged fantasy film in the beginning. Prasad Devineni, who co-produced the film along with Prakash, reveals, “In the beginning, it was a socio-fantasy and half of the film was set in modern times. But then, Prakash and S S Rajamouli talked about it and in the end Prakash decided to make a full-length fantasy film.”

The film was launched in June, 2009 and then Disney came onboard, which took the project to a whole new level. Prakash reminiscences, ”The best thing to happen for us on the project was Disney coming onboard. Disney was involved right from the concept stage and they were actively involved both in story development and casting. It was on Disney’s reccommendation that I met Shruti Haasan for the role of a gypsy girl in the film. It, however, took couple of months before we could close the formalities.” Entering into its sixth year of operations in India, Walt Disney Pictures is the first ever Hollywood studio to co-produce a Telugu film. Interestingly, it’s also the entertainment giant’s first live-action film in India apart from marking its foray into Southern cinema. Family entertainment is in Disney’s DNA and it comes as little surprise that they were excited to co-produce a fantasy-adventure film in India.