Filmmaker and scriptwriter Harish Shankar, whose latest release Mr. Bachchan has opened to rave reviews, shares insights about bringing authenticity with the film, Big B’s influence on him and more
K. Ramya Sree
Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja and mass director Harish Shankar’s highly anticipated film Mr. Bachchan is creating a huge buzz with all its commercial elements. Produced by T.G. Vishwaprasad under People Media Factory banner, the movie features Bhagyashree Borse alongside Ravi Teja. Mr. Bachchan hit the theatres on Thursday. Although the film didn’t perform up to the audiences’ expectations, Harish Shankar shared, “In the lives of honest individuals, there is fun, romance and love. The authenticity in his love and his fight scenes are central to the film. Everything comes from the point of authenticity. ‘Ride’ was a bit serious, with the first and second halves sharing a single backdrop, which might stress the audience. We avoided that in this film.”
Even when we did a ‘Dil Se’ interview with the director earlier, he stressed on the influence he had of Amitabh Bachchan on him and even now, sharing about the influence on him to follow this kind of a commercial film template, he said, “My father is a big Amitabh Bachchan fan. When I was in intermediate school, he realised I had a passion for films. From a young age, I have loved Telugu and Hindi literature and movies. I was very influenced by the dialogues in films by Jandhyala, Bapu and Ramana. I was also attracted to the films of E.V.V. Satyanarayana.”
Continuing about his love for literature, he shared, “I have loved literature since childhood. There might be days I don’t watch movies, but there’s never a day I don’t listen to music. There’s no inspiration like a good line. Music is a therapy for me. I am accustomed to listening to lyrics carefully and getting inspired. I aim to create songs that are memorable for their lyrics. Kasarla Shyam, Vanamali, Bhaskara Bhatla and Sahithi have written beautiful lyrics for this film. This story is set in the days of cassette recording centers. Back then, posters were put up in a grand manner for cassette records. To remind us of that time, we included posters of Amitabh Bachchan and Chiranjeevi in the lyrical video.”
Lastly heaping praises for his producer, he said, “Without Vishwaprasad, this film wouldn’t have come out so grandly or been released on the 15th. He gave more than we asked for, regardless of market and financial equations. When Kalyan was busy with elections during Ustaad Bhagat Singh, we set a target to finish the film by the time results came in. With a hero like Ravi Teja and a producer like Vishwaprasad, we completed it on schedule.”
