Prashant Neel on Bagheera: I was only a sounding board for director Dr Suri

Bagheera is being marketed as a film based on a story by KGF maker Prashant Neel, but he says that it has evolved over time

Prashant Neel provided the seed of the story of Bagheera

One of the major highlights of Sriimuralis release this week, Bagheera, is that it is based on a story by Prashant Neel, which, director Dr Suri, developed further and has presented in film format. Did Prashant give Dr Suri a full-fledged plot with a start, mid-point and end, or was it just a bunch of ideas that the latter fleshed out? In a rare public appearance, Prashant recently did a promotional interview for Bagheera for the production house, Hombale Films, during which he provided clarity on this.

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Bagheera: Prashant Neel's role on the film

“See, when you discuss ideas, I might come up with something, but only a director can envision it as a movie. We were talking one day, and Dr Suri said he liked the line I had pitched and that it was something that could be worked on. From there to now, the evolution that Bagheera has had is what Dr Suri has given it and that’s what you will see when the film releases. 100% of everything that is in the movie is a Dr Suri creation. So, tomorrow, if the movie is good, you should praise him and if it isn’t, you should fault him,” says Prashant.

The filmmaker adds, “My role during the writing was only to give Dr Suri validation that he was on the right track. It started off as a different idea in my head, but the way it is now, is absolutely brilliant and bears his signature.”

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Talking about Sriimurali’s character in the film, Prashant explains, “Everyone has a set of principles that he/she lives by, but when faced with a difficult situation, do you still uphold those principles? For instance, truth, honour and justice are things we are taught from school, but based on situations in life, these tend to change. In Bagheera, the police officer Vedanth, who believes in his principles firmly, faces a very testing time. The question, then, is if he will stay true to his values, turn grey, or will he look at workaround for his principles. That is what you will see in the movie.”

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