Ahead of the much-anticipated film’s release, Operation Valentine, producers Siddhu Mudda and Nandkumar Abbineni talk about the finances and other aspects of the movie.
K. Ramya Sree
Just yesterday, we informed you that Operation Valentine is a return gift to India and that ‘Valentine’ in this movie is the love for our country, as mentioned by the lead actor of the movie, Varun Tej. Today we have the producers of the movie, Siddhu Mudda and Nandkumar Abbineni, talk about the finances and other aspects of the movie.
What makes this interview special is that Operation Valentine was made on a budget of about Rs 47 crore, including VFX, which is an extremely tight budget for a movie like this, and we were curious how the producers made it.
Beginning with how this movie has started, Siddhu said, “We saw a short film by the director, and I told him that we will take things forward if he has a good story. At the same time, I met Varun, who also watched this short film and liked it. I told him that he was planning a full-length movie on this story and asked if we should listen to it. Since we decided to make it in Hindi and Telugu, we partnered with Sony, which was already planning to make a film with Varun. They liked the script, too. That’s how it all started.”
The producer says he and Nandkumar want to make good films that are rich in content. And for them, this is a very good film, and their confidence in the director’s VFX background made them feel even more confident about the movie’s output. He shared, “The director has a VFX background. This movie has a lot of aerial sequences, which need a lot of VFX to be done. Given the director’s background, we felt like he would do it. The rest we got were all senior technicians.”
Finally speaking about the budget and how they were able to make the movie within the said amount, Siddhu informed, “Our movie’s budget was Rs 42 crore and the VFX’s budget was Rs 5 crore. As we said, we got a lot of support from the Air Force. They have given us a lot of freehand in using their airbase. We shot for 25–40 days in Gwalior. Because of the Airbase help they gave me, I could save a lot of money. Since the director was technically sound.”
“When the Air Force officers watched the movie, they were very happy. They had only one request from us: to bring the script to light as it is and show their characters in the right way, not cinematise or commercialise them. They apparently had a bad experience previously with a Hindi movie, so they put in this request of theirs,” he added.
While this movie is made in both Hindi and Telugu, the producers say that there is just a half-minute scene difference between Hindi and Telugu, except that everything has been the same.
They feel that this genre has national appeal; hence, they decided to make it in Hindi as well.
On the other hand, Nandkumar shared, “It was tough shooting in the airbase where the temperatures were very high. On top of that, every crew had to be background cleared. All the crew members must get in and out at the same time. It was a tedious process.”
Just yesterday, we informed you that Operation Valentine is a return gift to India and that ‘Valentine’ in this movie is the love for our country, as mentioned by the lead actor of the movie, Varun Tej. Today we have the producers of the movie, Siddhu Mudda and Nandkumar Abbineni, talk about the finances and other aspects of the movie.
What makes this interview special is that Operation Valentine was made on a budget of about Rs 47 crore, including VFX, which is an extremely tight budget for a movie like this, and we were curious how the producers made it.
Beginning with how this movie has started, Siddhu said, “We saw a short film by the director, and I told him that we will take things forward if he has a good story. At the same time, I met Varun, who also watched this short film and liked it. I told him that he was planning a full-length movie on this story and asked if we should listen to it. Since we decided to make it in Hindi and Telugu, we partnered with Sony, which was already planning to make a film with Varun. They liked the script, too. That’s how it all started.”
The producer says he and Nandkumar want to make good films that are rich in content. And for them, this is a very good film, and their confidence in the director’s VFX background made them feel even more confident about the movie’s output. He shared, “The director has a VFX background. This movie has a lot of aerial sequences, which need a lot of VFX to be done. Given the director’s background, we felt like he would do it. The rest we got were all senior technicians.”
Finally speaking about the budget and how they were able to make the movie within the said amount, Siddhu informed, “Our movie’s budget was Rs 42 crore and the VFX’s budget was Rs 5 crore. As we said, we got a lot of support from the Air Force. They have given us a lot of freehand in using their airbase. We shot for 25–40 days in Gwalior. Because of the Airbase help they gave me, I could save a lot of money. Since the director was technically sound.”
“When the Air Force officers watched the movie, they were very happy. They had only one request from us: to bring the script to light as it is and show their characters in the right way, not cinematise or commercialise them. They apparently had a bad experience previously with a Hindi movie, so they put in this request of theirs,” he added.
While this movie is made in both Hindi and Telugu, the producers say that there is just a half-minute scene difference between Hindi and Telugu, except that everything has been the same.
They feel that this genre has national appeal; hence, they decided to make it in Hindi as well.
On the other hand, Nandkumar shared, “It was tough shooting in the airbase where the temperatures were very high. On top of that, every crew had to be background cleared. All the crew members must get in and out at the same time. It was a tedious process.”
