Prabhu Mundkur: ‘With Murphy, I can confidently say I have arrived’

It is with great confidence that actor Prabhu Mundkur says that his next, Murphy, which releases in theatres on September 27 is “superb”. Well, Prabhu has served multiple roles on the BS Pradeep Varma directorial, including as writer, executive producer and associate director. “I have been critically analysing my earlier works and with Murphy, I know I am in a space where I can say that I have arrived. That’s the confidence I have; it’s come out really good,” says the actor, adding, “Murphy is a film that will stay with audiences much after they leave the theatre.”

The film, though, has been in the making for a while. “It’s been four years, with writing beginning during the pandemic lockdown in 2020. That took us about a year-and-a-half. When we then got rolling, amid all the lockdowns, our initial producer found it difficult to continue the project, so we had to find someone else to back the film and finish it. The final copy of the film was ready only about 6-7 months ago. Then began the hunt for the right distribution partner, all of which took time and here we are now, four years later, ready to release Murphy,” Prabhu tells us.

Watch Prabhu Mundkur romance Ila Veermala in Samaya from Murphy 

But how did he come to be a part of Murphy? “I had worked with Pradeep on Urvi, and around that time, we’d begun collaborating on writing a few scripts. Murphy is a totally new genre for Pradeep because I wanted to cater to the family audience. The critical acclaim that films like Love Mocktail and Dia got gave me the confidence to dabble with a subject in that segment. There was a story called Radio that Pradeep had discussed with me, which sounded interesting and doable in the budget we’d envisioned. So, we developed it and it became Murphy,” Prabhu explains.

Based on the trailer, would it be right to say that the essence of Murphy is the conflict Prabhu’s character has with his father, on account of having been brought up by his grandfather? “It would not be wrong, but in a broader sense, Murphy is about relationship values, whether it is between the father and son, grandfather and grandson, mother and son, lovers, etc. The film also has some fantasy elements and I would sum it up as a romantic fantasy drama,” says the actor, adding that there’s a lot more than just romance in the film.

Murphy, meanwhile, is releasing along with Jr NTR’s Devara, which means screens and shows may not be easily available. Is the fact that films like Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi and Ibbani Tabbida Ileyali have been successful despite being released along with big-ticket movies a confidence booster? “The success of any Kannada film, will help and for this momentum to continue, we need good films being released in regular intervals,” says Prabhu.

Murphy is just over two weeks away from its date with audiences, but there’s been little buzz around it. What is it about Murphy that will click with audiences? “There are different factors that makes a film successful; it could be anything – the buzz around it, the music, the timing of the release. Unlike, say, Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi, which had a star like Ganesh onboard, or Ibbani Tabbida Ileyali, which has been produced by Rakshit Shetty, Murphy has no buzz around it. You need a lot of money to generate that. We are depending on the film becoming successful based on what’s in the story, word of mouth publicity of which will happen only after the release,” he adds.