10 August 2022
Hyderabad
Speaking exclusively with idlebrain.com, writer-director Chandoo Mondeti spoke about where he went wrong with his last, Savyasachi, the genesis of Karthikeya 2, wrapping it up in 62 working days, a possible collaboration with Nagarjuna and his wish of directing a full-length comic caper..
After his first two films—Karthikeya and Premam—struck gold at the ticket counters, Chandoo Mondeti was aiming for a hat trick with Savyasachi, starring Naga Chaitanya. Unfortunately though, the film torpedoed at the turnstiles. The director admits the failure was a tough pill to swallow, adding that he got a little confused dealing with it midway. “I quickly analyzed what went wrong. For the plot I’ve chosen, I’ve erred with the screenplay. But then this is a creative field and you are prone to commit the same mistakes again,” he begins.
Right now, Karthikeya 2, out August 13, has his undivided attention. The sequel to his maiden film, he understands that it is a seminal work in the landscape of Telugu cinema, and there are good expectations surrounding it. “People who haven’t watched Karthikeya can watch part 2 without any issues. As a team, we are confident about the plot and some of the episodes of the film,” he states.
Explaining how he cracked the idea for the sequel, he points out that he has a fair idea of why a particular practice like performing a pooja is followed because of what he read, heard (from his dear ones) and from his own analysis. “I never had blind faith. I read Amar Chitra Katha, Sundarakanda and I had my own analysis on them. When I read Troy as a kid, I had an opinion on Ulysses. Later, I used to think about adapting such personalities into film characters. I used to have such interest in our historical personalities as well. How have they grown up, till what point have they studied etc etc. I could form an opinion after deep study and analysis. I don’t say my opinion is correct but I had one. Likewise, I had an opinion on Lord Sri Krishna. Combined with what I’ve read from Amar Chitra Katha, I’ve put that opinion into a story. I’ve cracked it in parts. I thought a lot about it and stored multiple ideas in my brain before putting it on paper,” he shares.
He shared the idea to Nikhil casually on the phone. “As we chatted more about it, we felt it would be better if we make it as Karthikeya 2. The film is not completely about Lord Krishna or about puranas. The problem begins in Dwaraka, so it focuses a little on Lord Sri Krishna. In the process of resolving the conflict, Karthik (played by Nikhil) unearths a few new things and what next forms the crux. Basically, it’s a new adventure for Karthik with bigger stakes,” Chandoo shares.
Filmed across multiple locations like Dwaraka, Rann of Kutch, Himachal Pradesh, Himalayas, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Greece and Rome, Chandoo managed to wrap up the film in flat 62 working days and he says the experience has made him a better filmmaker. “Karthik (Gattamneni) being a cameraman shoots at least two films per a year, visiting multiple locations. So he has a pretty good idea about locations, coordinators and everyone. His experience came in handy. In fact, before we began the film, we undertook a massive prep. We were cautious with the budget. The sequences we have in Karthikeya 2 and the budget we have… we had to respect economics and at the same time shoot our sequences without compromising on the quality. There is no limit to thought but we should respect economics at the end of the day. For instance if an episode requires Rs 2 crore, we brought it down to Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore by working together with the VFX team, art team, cinematography team and direction team.
We shot a couple of episodes like that. The experience will serve me better in the future,” the director believes.
As an actor, Nikhil is very clear, Chandoo opines. “He is a director’s actor. He says, ‘I may not be a fantastic actor but I’m a good imitator’. If a director demonstrates a scene, he will mirror the same, albeit in a better way. If he believes he has overdone a shot, he will be the first one to say it even before the director. He has that clarity and I believe that’s enough for an actor. He cares a lot for his craft and his cinema. Ideally, he should be at a level above where he is right now,” the director, who has known the actor since 2006, maintains.
Karthikeya 2 also marks Karthik Gattamneni’s debut as an editor. On what prompted him to handover the editorial reins to his cinematographer, the director adds, “Initially, we thought of Sreekar Prasad garu and Chanti garu for editing. The latter, especially, is very close to me. After we completed the first schedule of the film, the second wave of COVID-19 hit again. It was scary and people started avoiding each other as a precautionary measure. Our footage was lying unattended on the computer. Karthik has learnt editing before cinematography, so he sat and began working on the edit of the film at my home. We understand each other very well, so after sometime I told him why not we both sit on it together. It happened like that.”
Karthikeya has high franchise potential and Chandoo doesn’t rule out a part 3, saying that if he cracks an entertaining script, he is open to the idea. He, however, will be making it for Rajesh Varma, who was one of the producers on Karthikeya. A businessman from Vizag, Rajesh also helped clear small financial hurdles of Karthikeya before allowing Chandoo to proceed with Karthikeya 2. “He is pretty close to me and Nikhil. He asked us to do a couple of more films each and later if there is a possibility to make Karthikeya 3, he wants to associate with it as a producer,” the director avers.
Next up though, Chandoo will be honoring his long pending commitment to GA2 Pictures. The untitled film is a Telugu-Tamil bilingual. “Initially Allu Aravind garu and Bunny Vaas heard the story. Later, they made me hear it. I liked it. It came out well as we worked on it. Set in a rural milieu, it has got drama, emotions and a dash of romance. If the casting falls in place shortly, I want to get it off the ground from November,” he declares.
He is keen on collaborating with his favourite actor Nagarjuna too in the future. “As I’ve done a couple of films with (Naga) Chaitanya, I’ve met Nag sir multiple times. I’ve told him a couple of ideas—a cop story and an action-comedy. He liked the cop story. The discussions have been going on, so let’s see. I’m pretty sure of commencing the project only when the script is compact and when we feel its blockbuster material,” he reveals.
Looking ahead, he also wants to helm a full-length comic entertainer but is “scared about it”. “People around me feel that I can do it but I don’t know whether I can or not. My family, wife and friends feel that I can make films that Jandhyala garu, EVV garu, Sreenu Vaitla garu and Anil Ravipudi have made. But I’m scared. I don’t know if I can write a comedy entertainer or not. If I write, I don’t know whether the punches will land or not. In fact, when my wife saw Jathi Ratnalu, she asked me whether I directed it secretly,” he signs off gleefully.
-NAGARAJ GOUD
