PremiumDasara on OTT: The success of Kantara was a confidence boost for films with rooted stories, says Nani
The Natural Star says that every decision taken for Dasara, especially its cast, was not to make it a pan-India film but to make a great Telugu movie
Last Updated: 12.53 PM, Apr 25, 2023
Telugu star Nani’s last release, Dasara, which is coming to OTT this week, was in the making way before Rishab Shetty came along with his film Kantara and showed that even the most rooted story can have a national, and international, audience. Dasara, which also has a very rooted story set in the heartland of Telangana, was released as a pan-India flick in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
Did the success of Kantara give team Dasara a confidence boost that they could take their story across the country? “Not just Dasara; I think the success of Kantara is a confidence boost for a lot of cinema in India. In terms of genre, Dasara and Kantara are not similar at all, so, I would say that in general, the movie-making business has benefitted from the success of films that outdid expectations,” Nani had said when he came to Bengaluru to promote the film.
The Natural Star also addressed why his ‘rooted’ film had actors from different industries, like, for instance, Dheekshith Shetty from Kannada and Shine Tom Chacko from Malayalam, which is seen as a pre-requisite for pan-India outings. “I don’t think that holds good anymore. For Dasara, we were not trying to hand-pick artistes from different industries to meet ‘quota’. We got Shine, or Dheekshith, for that matter, because they suit the roles. In fact, we auditioned actors from Telugu cinema for the exact same roles and were not happy. In Dheekshith’s case, we wanted a fresh face to play the character, Suri. But, more importantly, we wanted to make sure that audiences remember him as Suri and not Dheekshith. We did not want an actor who comes with an existing image. Every decision we took for Dasara was not in trying to make it bi-lingual or pan-Indian. We got actors for that one Telugu movie that we were making because we wanted to make a great film. We wanted ideal actors to play those roles. Kantara, in that sense, proved that you don’t need actors who are known in other industries; it did so well in its Telugu version,” explained Nani.
But then Kantara did not have actors from other industries because it was meant to be a Kannada film with local talent. “The difference here is that Telugu cinema has always been used to having actors from different languages. So, our audiences think that all the actors are from the Telugu industry. I don’t think they will come to the theatre and say, ‘This actor is not from here’,” Nani signed off.