Director Venu Udugula: 'Virata Parvam' will show live encounters between Naxalites and Police, which you haven't experienced before in Telugu cinema! - #BehindTheCamera!

Venu Udugula is a writer and director in Indian Telugu cinema. He made a superhit social satire in 2018 called 'Needi Naadi Oke Katha' with actors Sree Vishnu and Satna Titus. The film was also commercially a major success. Now, in his next, he is coming up with a period drama titled ‘Virata Parvam’ with a stellar star cast that includes Rana Daggubati, Sai Pallavi, Zarina Wahab and Easwari Rao.
The film reportedly revolves around the Naxalite movement that took place in the Telangana region during the 1990s.Etimes Telugu reached out to writer-director Venu Udugula for a special chit-chat about his film and below are the excerpts from the director.
How are you? And how were your pandemic days?
Good, used my pandemic days for scriptwriting and wrote a couple of new scripts.
How is your upcoming ‘Virata Parvam’ going to be?
It will be great, The film is an intense love story set in the 90s with a political backdrop, The audience will feel the pain of losing their dear ones upon watching this film. The film has an aesthetical emotion to connect with the audience.
You shot the film amid the Pandemic and lockdowns, how did you manage? How many schedules did it take to make this film?
Ohh, it was very tough to shoot amid covid protocols and we postponed the shoot back to back several times, which delayed our project.We shot it in multiple schedules as we had to fit in the dates, locations and all the other teams. To top it we shot in real locations such as Warangal, Vikarabad, Medhak and Ramjo Film City. So, there were lots of schedules.
Your film seems to have a Naxalite backdrop, even in the first film you discussed social issues. Any particular reason for choosing such subjects back to back?
I was born and raised in such a society, the books I read, and the people I moved with have given me a certain perspective about life and my films are the reflections of it. I’m only making films to explore my world. I come from Warangal, Telangana which is full of revolutionary struggles and movements, having been exposed to them right from childhood could also be a reason for my films.

Why is this film’s hero named ‘Ravanna’? We know a popular Naxallite by that name who later turned Politician. Is there any connection to his (Paritala Ravi ) story?
No, there is no such connection. The name is just a coincidence, it was given randomly. The character was actually inspired by a person called Shankaranna, based in Nizamabad.
‘A revolution is an act of love' is the caption of your movie, what do you mean by that?
All revolutions in this world and all schools of thought, be it left or right, is triggered by a strong love for its people. A strong love/desire for a certain thing made them go to any extent and achieve what they want, their love had a broader perspective to bring the change in society. ‘Love’ is a word that has a very deeper meaning, unlike how we see and hear it often.
Do you think your socially responsible subjects and movies can influence society?
Of course, cinema influences society to a certain extent. But, today more than cinema there are several other gadgets and mobile apps from various categories that are influencing people more. The Internet phenomenon is influencing society more than films do these days. There are several social networks, dating, friendship, porn and other content-based mobile applications are hugely influencing. Even people have become selective about what they want, therefore it depends on one's choice now.
Why Rana Daggubati for the above subject? Have you approached any other actor before narrating this script to Rana?
No, Rana was the first actor I approached, Also, Not many actors will readily accept a story like this, an actor should be socially conscious and should have a zeal to make realistic content and a strong motive to portray realism and should have a passion for good cinema. I found all the above qualities in Rana Daggubati, now the character got emphasized because of his performance. The film's potential has also been raised due to his presence.
Why Sai Pallavi and how is her character going to be in the film?
She is apt for the role, both in terms of looks and performance wise and she just did great, be it her makeover, or performance everything will be extraordinary in the film. She is also a very dedicated actor who didn’t have food from 1 day before to look apt and serious for the role.
Recently, Rana Daggubati tweeted saying, “The wait is long, but we’ll give you a classic” regarding your movie. How happy is the team with the final product?
Yes, the team is very confident with the product we made, Rana is also happy and confident, The film has a big emotion which you will witness in theatres soon.
If I have to ask you 'Why should I watch your film'? What is there for me to take back home from the film, what will you have to say?
Digital filmmaking has revolutionized the kind of films we used to watch. This film is made will full liberty to the filmmaker and you will watch lots of real-life characters and you’ll experience the real encounter between Naxalites and police, which will be a very organic gunfight choreographed by a German-based action choreographer, you'll see something which Telugu people haven’t experienced before. You’ll watch a very intense drama and love story. We have some serious actors in the film such as Zarina Wahab, Nanditha Das, Sai Chand and Priyamani and a few weapons used are original ones to make it feel more authentic.
Will this film be released only in Telugu or in other languages too?
For now, we have plans to release it in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, no idea about releasing it in Hindi for now and will hit the theatres on June 17th.
Have you met any Naxalites to deal with this subject or for further research?
As I said before, I come from a place where all the above happened often since childhood. If I watch from one window of my house these Naxal and police encounters used to take place and if I go to the other window another similar thing used to happen. I am a live witness to how natural encounters happen between Naxals, therefore I didn’t need much research on it.

What is your educational and professional background? and How did you make it here?
I did my BA (Litt) in Hanumakonda, Warangal. I was very much attracted to cinema right from childhood and used to write poems, wrote one novel, and worked on the Citi cable channel in various capacities. Used to read some interesting books and literature and post my education I came to Hyderabad. I never joined any film Institute or a crash course.
Music in your films will be very new despite the composers are not a popular people, how is this possible?
All the lyricists in my films are new guys, and I have seen the music director’s work in a recording studio, I loved his working style and compositions and a couple of my lyricists were Ghazal writers too. Therefore, the music naturally sounds different.
Rana’s father is a senior-most producer in Tollywood and you are just one movie old, that too you made a very small film, how did you dare to narrate your second script to such big producers?
Now due to the digital revolution, ‘Content has become the king’ when I narrated the subject, they realized the potential of it and they too were looking to make something content-oriented, so it has become easy for me.
Is there anyone who helped you to reach this place where you are now? If you’ll have to give the credit to one, whom would you give it?
I don’t think one single person can drive you to success, I have many in my life who helped me at various stages in various forms, be it my family, friends, or others. If lyricist Chandrabose helped to materialize my first film, another friend Ravi helped me to a certain extent for my next. A few other people too helped me in this project, therefore there are several.
Is there any particular director who inspired you to make these social realism and issue-based movies and what do you think is your strength in dealing with them?
Not actually, but I admired K.Balachander's films a lot because his films used to have psychoanalysis of the characters, you can take some of his best movies, his character's mental state would be well portrayed…..! Coming to my strengths I think I'm good at portraying good human drama and I like to make such emotionally-driven content.
Do you have a writing team or do you write your subjects on your own?
I have a writing team, and I discuss my subjects with them often and separately and build the script as per my likes and their suggestions or inputs. I also have enough experience to write my scripts as I worked as a ghostwriter for a few films, I also worked as a ghost to the ghostwriter.
A few writers in Tollywood say that there is a dearth of stories in the Industry or story writers in Tollywood, how true is that? Have we really made all the stories that existed in our society?
I don’t know how to understand such statements and I can’t speak for others. In the evolution of Mainstream Telugu cinema, it has only touched on some sort of stories over the years. But there are enough places, families, and cultures yet to explore. We have not explored subjects like ‘Jai Bhim’, ‘Pitamagan’, etc that happen in our society too. We are not making movies on social inequalities and their lives. If there are 2000 families in a village two thousand interesting things are happening with them, it's we to find out. We can make movies on sports subjects which rarely happens here.

Speaking about the new content, there are several newcomers making lots of variety content right from their short films to the OTT range, and several OTTs are coming up with concept-based movies every other day, amid all these, what is the future of theatres?
Nothing will happen to theatrical, because it is a psychological phenomenon to watch a movie with mass gatherings in a theatre. Therefore, it will continue to exist as long as cinema exists. Also, the more the OTTs come the more diversity in the content will happen, and people will get to watch more and more good cinema, rather than mediocre stuff.
We saw you wish every actor in Tollywood on your social media handle? Who is your favourite actor and why?
(Laughs), As a kid I used to like Venkatesh a lot, growing old, I started liking others based on their movies, but now no one in particular, I enjoy everyone's movies. Therefore, I wish everyone just like that.
What was your last watched movie in the theatre? In addition, how did you like it?
‘KGF2’, I liked it due to its politicized content. There are several movies in Telugu in a similar format but this one is politicized in a huge scale, which made the difference, to top it off, the film has a 'motherly sentiment'. Also, its KGF location background added a lot of value to its visuals.
What compliments did you get for your first film and especially from film people?
They congratulated and complimented me a lot, especially people like Tammareddy Bharadwaja, Gunnam Gangaraju, Deva Katta and others too have appreciated my work. They have great words to talk about the film and don’t want to repeat it by myself.
A few websites have written a lot about your upcoming movies. Tell us about your upcoming projects and how are they going to be like?
Nothing is confirmed yet, it's too early to discuss them. We are yet to get the ok nod from some big actors. Until the production house announces it officially, we really can’t confirm them. Coming to the content in my future films, whatever I do will have social realism, and social issues because this is what the exposure I have and I know.

Also See: Top Rated Telugu Movies Of 2022 | Best Telugu Movies Of 2022 | Latest Telugu Movies