From Manam to Thank You and Dhootha, what makes the Naga Chaitanya-Vikram K Kumar duo click?

There are a handful of actor-director duos in Telugu cinema where little about their collaboration can go wrong. From Singeetham-Kamal Haasan to Boyapati-Balakrishna to Jr NTR- Rajamouli and Sai Pallavi-Sekhar Kammula, we have many such celebrated combos in our industry. Though not in a similar league, we may have a new addition to this list - Naga Chaitanya and Vikram K Kumar.

Vikram K Kumar’s male leads are largely gentlemen, have a quirky sense of humour and are also focused with their aims - this is what fits someone like Naga Chaitanya to the T. The director extracts realistic performances that are entertaining and still don’t overtake the story. Naga Chaitanya’s strength zone has always been his urban-centric tales and the filmmaker knows to capitalise on his forte well, at least Manam, which turned 8 years yesterday, was proof of it.

From what we hear about Thank You too, it’s a coming of age tale where the protagonist is in a self-discovery mode and is also set in a city backdrop. The promos and posters have hinted that the tale is certain to provide what audiences expect from a well-made Vikram K Kumar film. In times when loud, over-the-top mainstream films are hogging the limelight, Thank You promises to be a breath of fresh air. The teaser of the film releases tomorrow - May 25 at 5.04 pm.

However, Dhootha, to stream on Amazon Prime Video later this year, appears to be the most exciting collaboration between the two. Naga Chaitanya hasn’t tried his hand at horror to date and the premise of a few inanimate objects taking on humans has already got us excited. It’s relieving that a filmmaker as capable as Vikram needn’t pander to the galleries while making a web show. The cast, comprising Parvathy, Prachi Desai, Tharun Bhascker, Priya Bhavani Shankar, makes it a juicy prospect already.

Between Thank You and Dhootha, what would you place your bet on?