Director Pranith Bramandapally: Bhaag Saale was born out of my need to make a mass film

Pranith Bramandapally was ahead of the curve in the digital space and went onto direct the first ever Telugu web series Muddapappu Avakai with his friend, actor and producer Niharika Konidela. They joined hands for another show Nanna Koochi and a feature film Suryakantham later. Now, the filmmaker is back with a crime comedy, Bhaag Saale, which hits screens on July 7. Ahead of its release, he was in conversation with OTTplay.com

Excerpts from a media interaction:

Bhaag Saale - the origin story:

My first film released in 2019 and I took the advance for Bhaag Saale in December that year, it has been in the scripting stage for a while. I was to work with Sri Simha immediately after Mathu Vadalara but it took some time for our combination to work out. I always believe that the story chooses the actor and after watching Mathu Vadalara, I felt he was apt for the part.

Bhaag Saale is a fictional story and I kept hearing tales that the Nizams were crazy about rings. How would a streetsmart guy in Hyderabad deal with a story around the lost ring? For instance, if his future plan is to own a restaurant, he behaves as if he owns one already. In the process, he fakes his own reality. It’s a contemporary story and there are no periodic elements.

The casting, characterisation:

The antagonist has a major role and we waited for John Vijay; we were confident that he would add a new flavour to the film. Varshini plays a frustrated woman who believes in God and in contrast, Neha Solanki is cast as girl quite fond of her dad. It’s an out and out crime comedy. This is a total stressbuster with unique, oddball characters. The comedy will be fresh.

Why a crime comedy?

One of my friends told how it is easier to reach out to audiences when one makes a commercial film. A mass film is something that a majority of audiences would enjoy and I wanted to explore something in that zone. As a bonus, it would help me get a bigger budget for my next project too.

I truly enjoy crime comedies and I felt it was easier to keep audiences hooked with a backstory around the ring and they’ll be curious about its journey. COVID-19 was very helpful; I watched almost every crime comedy made across the globe - English, Spanish, French - name it and I would’ve watched it. I didn’t borrow the plot from anywhere but I can’t deny the influence of the films on me.

Challenges during the shoot:

Given the film was predominantly set in Hyderabad, we had to shoot at live locations and a major sequence was to be shot at Swapnalok Complex. We didn’t find much support from the shop owners and customers even though we had bouncers and had to reshoot the scenes many times. It was hard to keep the action scene realistic because they were conscious of the camera and were even waving their hand. There were practical issues for the scenes shot on main roads.

The story behind the title:

We had several options for the title - the characters in the film are always on the move. We considered titles like Parugu, Daud but thought Bhaag Saale was catchy and would resonate with audiences better. The word ‘saale’ is only restricted to the title and it isn’t a reference to any other film. The characters in the film will speak regular Telugu - it has a mix of Telangana, Andhra slangs.

Roping in Naatu Naatu singer Kaala Bhairava as the composer:

Kaala Bhairava has been one of my best friends since college days and I listened to his score for Karthikeya 2 climax in the studio; I had goosegumps and immense confidence in his abilities. Bhaag Saale had several principal actors and we wanted a unique music score around the ring and he is the unsung hero of our film, an asset to the team.

Looking back at Suryakantham and a peek into his future projects:

On the commercial front, Surykantham did well and grossed close to Rs 5.5 crore and I continue to receive good responses from audiences on OTT. The film released during the election season and it couldn’t get the push it deserved. I even had offers to make a sequel to my web show Muddapappu Avakai but I didn’t want to drag the story further and spoil its impact.

I want to tell stories on the big screen and on OTT and I’ll definitely take up a show if a good opportunity comes my way. I am next working on a football-based sports drama - the basic story structure is ready. It’s a story tracing the rise of an underdog and will be emotional. It’ll be made on a good bugdet. As a director, I don’t want to repeat myself. I’ll go by the suggestion that director Harish Shankar has for me - he is my mentor. I’m yet to narrate the full story to him.