Joru
Filmmaker Kumar Nagendra says his forthcoming Telugu drama “Joru”, which releases in cinemas Friday, is a “true-blue entertainer” made purely based on the feedback he received for his directorial debut “Gundello Godari”.
“When my first film released, the only compliant I received from audiences was the absence of comedy in it. I had decided then that when I make my next film, I’ll have oodles of comedy. That’s how ;Joru’ was conceived and it has now turned out to be out-and-out entertainer,” Nagendra told IANS.
“My motto was to entertain with ‘Joru’, which is like a Rohit Shetty style Telugu film, but the comedy is not cheap as we’ve maintained certain standard,” he said.
Nagendra is against the notion Telugu films don’t work without comedy, especially in recent times.
“We can definitely make films without comedy. There’s ‘Magadheera’, ‘Arundhati’ and most recently ‘Karthikeya’. ‘Gundello Godari’ was an intense film, so audiences felt they would’ve enjoyed it more with some comedy,” he said.
“When I decided to make my second film, I wanted it to appeal to younger audiences predominantly. Since I made a film without comedy, I tried doing a full-length comedy entertainer this time,” he added.
“Joru” features Sundeep Kishan in the lead. The director had already worked with him in his first film and quite enjoyed the experience.
“After we finished my first film, I narrated just a few lines from ‘Joru’ to Sundeep, and he happened to like it. He agreed to do the project without even hearing the complete script because he felt it was different,” said Nagendra.
The film also features three heroines — Raashi Khanna, Priya Banerjee and Sushma Raj. But Nagendra says he didn’t cast them to up the glamour quotient.
“There’s a misconception that if you cast three heroines, the film becomes glamorous. It doesn’t work that way. If you watch my first film, every character had a purpose in it. In ‘Joru’ too, you wouldn’t find one unwanted character,” he said.
“Besides the three heroines, there are about 20 other artists in important roles. All their characters are extremely important. I spent nearly four months on this script,” he added.
He clarifies that the film revolves around the heroines.
“These three actresses are playing the same character and that’s makes this film unique. That’s why I call it a confusion drama. Audiences will have clarity about what’s happening on the screen but the characters will be in neck deep confusion,” he said.
The film’s biggest highlight will be the role essayed by senior comedian Brahmanadam.
“He must’ve contributed about 80 percent to the development of his character. Everything about his character was on paper but he helped me recreate it on screen beyond my imagination. I worked with him for 15 days and I’m sure audiences will love his character,” he added.
Brahmanandam plays a role called Pelli Koduku (PK), which has been inspired from a real-life character.