In a sea of big-ticket Sankranti releases, Saindhav stands tall for more reasons than one, but not without puzzling people. Guntur Kaaram is a blockbuster from the word go, thanks to the presence of its lead actor Mahesh Babu. Hanu Man marries religious fervour with high-stakes action in its storytelling, making it sound like a worthy big-ticket contender, despite the presence of a smaller star like Teja Sajja. Naa Saami Ranga, on the other hand, is a throwback to the Sankranti pandaga films of yore, with an ensemble cast, a village backdrop and the works. Compared to the other films, it is harder to pin down Saindhav with shorthand Telugu cinemagoers are familiar with.
The film stars Venkatesh Daggubati — who is known for attracting family audiences, particularly women, with his brand of squeaky-clean family entertainers — in a high-stakes action role. There is a dying child, talks of high-level white-collar crime and a fictitious town named Chandraprastha at the heart of it all. The big ticket festival release suddenly has a film packaged with a syntax that is more Hollywood than Tollywood. But Sailesh Kolanu is no stranger to such sensibilities. The writer-director of HIT (2020) and HIT 2 (2022), one would not be incorrect for stating that the optometrist-turned-filmmaker has introduced true crime to Telugu cinema. How does he view the transition from genre-bound cinema like the HIT franchise to a star vehicle like Saindhav, a film that invariably earns itself the star vehicle tag merely on account of its lead actor Venkatesh? The director asserts that this is an organically written script that found a star and not the other way around.
“Producer Venkat (Boyanapalli) asked me to meet Venkatesh sir a year ago. I did not understand why then. HIT 2 just came out so I thought sir wanted to congratulate me. Then followed a couple of informal meetings where we discussed everything except cinema. We hit it off then and slowly enough, he asked me to direct his 75th film. I looked at all the stories I have written over the years and narrated one idea to sir. He liked it and things took off from there. Venkat sir figured out the economics of the film and soon enough we went on floors,” recounts the director, who finished the film in 100 days in 2023.
Sailesh continues, “Every film has a target audience. This film’s target audience is those who are seeking larger-than-life cinema. That said, the film also combines a larger-than-life narrative with my brand of detailing and use of logic, not entirely dissimilar to what I have attempted in the HIT films. We have not tried to reverse-engineer mass moments. The highs come from the story, the way it is. One of the biggest compliments I received was how my films are able to arrest the attention of the audience for two hours, ensuring they don’t ever look down to stare at their phones. I tried my best to make sure this is what viewers feel for Saindhav as well.”
When enquired more about the differences between Saindhav and the HIT franchise, Sailesh says, “Saindhav is more emotional than my previous films, which are straightforward procedural thrillers. We wanted to package it to a larger audience, so you have actors across industries in the film, like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shraddha Srinath, Andrea Jeremiah and Arya. While Nawazuddin and Shraddha play principal characters, Andrea, Arya and Ruhani Sharma feature in extended cameos.” Sailesh is also quick to emphasise the film’s key element. “Venkatesh sir’s daughter in the film suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a rare terminal illness. The film’s conflict turns into a ticking time bomb as he has to procure a life-saving drug that costs a whopping Rs 17 crore. We are hoping this film raises awareness about this medical condition and provides a voice to those distressed parents whose children are diagnosed with the same.”
Sailesh also segues this angle into a reply when questioned about the film possibly coming off as too new age, ergo not appealing to the B and C centres. “The trauma of having a child on the brink of death is something every parent can palpably relate to, irrespective of their economic background. If anything, it is the less well-off who are acutely aware of what it feels like to not be able to save a child from dying due to a paucity of money.”
When asked about the inception of Chandraprastha, Sailesh answers, “The film is set in a coastal South Indian town. There is gun smuggling and talks of a cartel and whatnot in the film. The only Telugu-speaking, fairly large, coastal town one can think of is Visakhapatnam. But can you imagine a story with a cartel set in Vizag? So we created a new city, for all our creative liberties to take off. And we were really keen that the characters in the film only talk in Telugu, in the most organic way possible. Which, really rules out setting this film in Chennai or Mumbai. Hence, Chandraprastha.”
As the director is all excited about Saindhav’s release, which is hitting theatres on January 13, Sailesh turns philosophical when asked about his upcoming film. “We do not choose our films. Stories just will themselves into existence, choosing their own cast, crew and director.”
The director professes a wish to direct a love story someday. “I have a great story already, it is based on me and my now-wife, who I have known for two decades. I met her when I was 17. She is the only woman I have ever been with. I have a two-and-half-year-old son now, this film will be a gift of sorts for him.” gushes Sailesh.
He has already announced HIT 3, which stars his HIT producer Nani in the lead role. When does he plan to get the film on the floors? Sailesh says, “The HIT universe has seven films in total. You have only seen two films so far. The third film is in the works, but you are not going to see it anytime soon. I believe that a healthy gestation period is required for better films to emerge. We also don’t want our viewers to feel franchise fatigue, which is what I felt when the makers of The Fast and the Furious went from releasing one film every few years to one film every year. HIT 3 will cook, but it has got to marinate first.”
