Konda Venkata Rajendra, aka Ko Ve Ra, is now coming up with his second film Lopalaki Ra Chepta, which is touted as a horror comedy. He talks about this film, his struggles and why he chose direction and also acting for this film
There have been many young directors who have been coming up with new concepts in Tollywood. Ko V e Ra (Konda Venkata Rajendra), adding to the list, is coming up with a different story and with an interesting title.
“Lopalaki Ra Chepta is the title of my film,” said Venkata Rajendra. “It’s a horror film. Not only acting, but I am also directing the film.”
It was in 2018 when he made his debut film with U. While that film had an underworld mafia backdrop, that film and now he is coming up with a horror one. “Now, the horror genres are going successfully. Look at Stree 2, which collected huge money at the box-office and even Prabhas’s upcoming film, The Raja Saab, is in the same genre. There’s huge demand for horror films in OTT, so I decided to come up with a horror one,” said Rajendra.
Well, not just directing and acting, but he is also producing this film along with Lakshmi Ganesh Chedella and also provided the story. “I want to make the film within my budget limits, so I can’t afford a director. Thus, I decided to direct my own film,” he said.
Speaking of his six-year hiatus, he shares, “When I made my first film, I didn’t have any awareness about distribution and the business of a film, so I distributed two films, Slumdog Husband and Mr Pregnant, in these years and now I have ideas about them,” he said. He added that he also directed an animated film, Funstatic Thara, in these years.
Talking about the title Lopalaki Ra Chepta, Rajendra said that it is apt for his story. “It’s an interesting title, as my film is also a horror genre. When I was at a crossing signal, a girl gave her number to me. When I called, she asked me to come to her house, and then the story revolves around after the incidents,” said Rajendra.
This film’s audio rights was acquired by popular Saregama music, which Rajendra feels is his first win. “Recently, we released the first song from the film and it also garnered five lakhs views on YouTube,” he said. The song is also released in a variety of plans. “I am playing a delivery boy in this film and I wanted to release the song with a real-life delivery boy, so I ordered something online and when the delivery boy came, I asked him to release it,” said Rajendra about his different plans for the song release. It’s not just this song; in the coming days he is planning to promote his film differently. “People definitely surprised after seeing the promotional content of my film,” he said. There are five songs in the film and now one song has been released and the remaining four songs will be released in the coming days. “Sahiti Chaganti of Kurchi Madathupatti fame has sung one song in my film; it came out really well,” he said. Davzand is the music director for this film.
Rajendra wanted to market himself with this film. “With my first film I didn’t know anything, but now I want to focus on acting and direction. After this film release, definitely people will approach me and I will do acting in other people’s direction and also I want to direct other actors,” he said. There are three female leads in this film. Anala Susmitha, Manisha Jasshnani and Sanchi Rai are the female leads.
Venkata Rajendra worked earlier with popular writer and Rajamouli’s father, Vijayendra Prasad. “Yes, I learned the screenplay, story writing and editing also at that time. I am still in touch with him, as I recently met him and told him about my upcoming film,” said Rajendra.
The film is now in post-production work and he wanted to release it in the second week of February. “I feel that’s the ideal time and before that, I wanted to complete the business of Hindi dubbing rights and also OTT business,” he said.
