Prasanth Varma: I intentionally didn’t view HanuMan as a mythological film

Prasanth Varma, who carved his niche as a capable storyteller with a series of award-winning short films, made his feature film debut with the remarkably innovative anthology Awe, that earned critical acclaim and won several awards at film festivals. He has been consistently in a quest to better himself with every film, be it Kalki, Zombie Reddy or his upcoming release HanuMan.

In a chat with OTTplay.com, he offers us a peek into the world of his next superhero film, his plans to make a franchise out of it and revealed key updates about his future projects.

HanuMan gearing up for a release:

The VFX work for HanuMan is underway and is expected to be wrapped this June. I plan to announce the release date in the first half of July. VFX/CGI work is not in our hands and a lot of effort goes into every frame of the film. Despite technological advancements, this is a time-taking process. The teaser increased the expectations surrounding the film and we added a few elements that’ll enhance the viewing experience. The trailer will be even better.

On the growth of the film’s scale with time:

I definitely didn’t imagine this as a project to be made on mammoth scale. All I thought was to make a fun superhero film but the scope of the film expanded over time. I’ve added a new character into the story recently. When I saw the rushes and found that the film didn’t feel complete for some reason. The new character made all the difference and I’m very satisfied with the final result now. I’ve taken a few inputs from SS Rajamouli after the teaser launch.

The origins of HanuMan:

I intentionally didn’t view this film as a mythological tale and it would have presented us many new challenges. The film is set in a modern-day world blended with a key incident from Hanuman’s life. The film idea was born out of a small story related to Hanuman and it’ll leave you thoroughly satisfied with the visualisation of the character, like how we’ve imagined him since childhood. We worked on the character sketches alone for a year.

There are several quality directors in Telugu films and I don’t claim to be better than them. I want to create a space for myself and try something different with every film - Awe, Kalki, Zombie Reddy were products of such attempts. When I wanted to push the bar further, I wanted to do a superhero film which has a huge market across the globe. We plan to create a HanuMan universe through the film, pique the curiosity of audiences and are working on exclusive comics.

Digging deeper into HanuMan’s world - Anjanadri:

HanuMan is a story that unfolds in a fictional world named Anjanadri, it is a village set on an island. I don’t see the film as a financial risk and sky is indeed the limit. Like Hanuman who isn’t aware of his potential, I’m sure our film too will be an underdog that’ll win over audiences. The script demanded us to cast an underdog and it suited Teja Sajja’s image perfectly. He has undergone a massive makeover the role and did full justice to the character. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Vinay Rai and Raj Deepak Shetty will also appear in crucial roles.

Future projects, lineup for the coming years:

I’ve pitched a story to Nandamuri Balakrishna and he liked the idea immensely. We’ve just begun talks. The film will take off whenever he has the time. Adheera is still in its pre-production phase and it’s a superhero film which will have characters from HanuMan too. It’s a proper cinematic universe a.l.a Marvel. A few filmmakers have also acquired scripts that I’ve written. I plan to make over 8 superhero films and want to create a franchise out of it. I wish to run a studio with a 100-member team in the coming years.