PNS| HYDERABAD
Director Shiva Nirvana made his mark in Tollywood by impressing audiences with love and family entertainers on the big screen. His films Ninnu Kori, Majili, and Tuck Jagadish were successful and loved by family audiences. Director Shiva Nirvana’s new film Kushi starring Vijay Devarakonda and Samantha, is gearing up for a pan-India release in three days. Produced by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar under the Mythri Movie Makers banner. Ahead of the release, director Shiva Nirvana interacted with the media about the experience of shooting this film.
While earlier there have been deveral movies based on the issues of pre and post-marriages, however with Kushi, Shiva shares, “With this movie I wanted to tell the story with entertainment, as the title suggests. People saw the entertainment filled scenes in the trailer. There are a few scenes that will touch everyone’s heart. I narrated this story to Vijay after the movie Dear Comrade. A year and a half after telling the story, we took it to the sets because Vijay was busy with Liger. After doing Ninnu Kori, Majili, Tuck Jagadish, I wanted to do an out of the box movie. But when I met Vijay, I told Kushi’s story as a point, and he like it a lot.”
There’s also been a strong buzz and infact reports also suggest that the film has similar points with Mani Ratnam’s Sakhi. However, the filmmaker denies all of it and says, “I believe that an issue in today’s contemporary society would be better addressed by popular stars like Vijay and Samantha. This point is connected to them. We didn’t show that point in the trailer. Audience need to see it in the theatre.”
After making films that revolved around failed love stories like in Ninnu Kori and Majili, with Kushi, he wanted to make an entertaining, energetic, and fun love story. Coming to the title, one thing that we notice is the title is same in all the languages that the film is going to release in. Putting in some light on the same, he shares, “I am a fun person personally. I thought it would be fun for this movie, some more titles. But when Vijay and Samantha wanted to take the film to a pan-Indian level for their pan-Indian image, it seemed better to have a single title in five languages. So we fixed the title Kushi. This movie does not have any version of the hero or the heroine. The characters are balanced and this movie started with Vijay. After that, we asked Samantha that the film would be stronger if there was a heroine like her. Vijay is well liked by the lady audience through this film.”
Talking of the Kashmir backdrop, it was born from the idea of how to tell a love story in a new way. He even reveals that while writing the story, the second half was all ready. However, instead of showing the love story in the college as a routine in the first class, he thought it would be better to start from a feel-good place, a pleasant place. “I thought the introduction between the hero and heroine should be fun. As you can see in the trailer, the hero calls the heroine Begum once and again. It’s all fun. Samantha is very cooperative for the shoot. A very dedicated heroine. How can we all not support such a heroine if shehass a health problem. She used to say that she would come in the middle of the treatment but it was difficult to make schedules by giving a gap in between, so we told her to come only after she was completely cured.”
Well, talking of the music, the songs are already in the top playlists of the audience, and what tunes we must say! The man behind the work is none other than Hesham Abdul Wahab. Initially, when Hesham working on the songs, Shiva was not getting the exact tunes that he wanted to be in the film. “I have written the lyrics as Na Roja Nuvve, Na Dil Se Nuvve, Anjali, Gitanjali Nuvve. Hesham gave a tune for it and sang. The song was completed, including recording, by 5 pm. Everyone in Mythri’s office listened to the song and everyone loved it. I also wrote the hook line Naa Chelitara in Aaradhya. So I was writing some lines and Hesham’s tune happened. We did all the songs so that this would be a good workout.” Well, this was not the first time that the director had written the song. He did write songs in his previous films Ninnu Kori, Majili and Tuck Jagadish.
The filmmaker goes on to reveal how Vijay’s character is going to be well loved by the girls, and family audience. A typical dream boy! While the film will not have any conflict between Hindu, and Muslims. However, it is going to highlight a sensitive issue. Talking of Samantha, get ready to witness her in the Vintage Samantha avatar. After seeing her in different genres, the director says, “It feels good to see Samantha in a love story. Destiny is not in my hands to make films at speed. I have been doing films for two years. In the middle, covid break . My previous film Tuck Jagadish was a film made for Jagadish Theater but it went OTT. It is not known how the result would have been if it had been released in theaters.”
While many reports have also been claiming that the story of the film revolves around Samantha’s real-life, the director refutes to it and says, “This is a story I wrote three years ago. I have done a movie with her in Majili, so we took her into this because she can act well. That’s all she played her character in the story I wrote. If another heroine acts in this movie, there will be no chance for such questions.”
While people have been comparing the film to be similar to that of Mani Ratnam’s Sakhi, the director points out that though he has been a fan of Mani Ratnam, but don’t want to be like him. “I wanted to assist him in Chennai, but unfortunately that couldn’t happen. No one can put a single frame like Mani Ratnam. We get inspiration from his aesthetic sense and musical sense in his movies.”
