Director Bobby Kolli: The entire team worked on Waltair Veerayya like Chiranjeevi’s fans

Bobby Kolli, former associate of Kona Venkat, turned a director with Ravi Teja’s Power and established himself as a mainstream filmmaker with outings like Jai Lavakusa, Venky Mama. He’s living his dream with Waltair Veerayya, a film where he got to direct his idol Chiranjeevi in an out-and-out mass entertainer. Ahead of the film’s release for Sankranti 2023, he spoke of the film in a media interaction.

“Right when Indra became a success with the story of Chinni Krishna, I packed my bags to Hyderabad to catch a glimpse of Chiranjeevi. He received me so well and I couldn’t thank my stars for working on Waltair Veerayya. During the very first narration when I was anxious and tried too much to please him, he made me feel at ease and asked me to come prepared with a script next time,” he said.

“In the second narration, he liked the story but told me to rework the second half and motivated me relentlessly to come up with a good script and he finally said yes. During the lockdown, I worked extensively on the film and to convince Ravi Teja to come on board. He gave his approval the same day we narrated it to him. Both the stars have been of great support in this journey,” Bobby added.

Bobby asserted that he wasn’t hyping up the film at every occasion, but guarantees that the interval sequence of Waltair Veerayya will give the high every fan expects from a Chiranjeevi film. “Being a fan, I worked with Devi Sri Prasad to ensure every number was a chartbuster. I trust his judgement with a script and his perspective was valuable many times in my career,” the director stated.

Adding that Shruti Haasan and Catherine Tresa would have author backed roles in the film, he mentioned Rajendra Prasad’s role would provide a solid emotional foundation to the story. Bobby thanked the production designer AS Prakash for his work on the sets and trusted him fully without checking on him even once. He conveyed his gratitude to stunt directors Ram-Lakshman, editors Niranjan Devaramane and Chota K Prasad for their inputs.