Sundari, the upcoming Telugu film starring actor Purnaa in the title role, is set to release in theatres on August 13.
The film, written and directed by filmmaker Kalyanji Gogana, is backed by producer Rizwan under his home banner Rizwan Entertainment.
Speaking to Silverscreen India about the film, Gogana said, “Sundari is a twisty emotional story based on astrology and how much people believe in it. It follows a village girl married to a software employee, whose life takes a turn when her husband loses his job. She is forced to take a few steps that lead to an emotional riot. People from rural places, especially housewives, have a lot of faith in horoscopes and astrology, and the film deals with this.”
The filmmaker added that he personally does not believe in horoscopes blindly but has a ‘surface-level’ faith in them. “Mostly, it is women who are alone at home that tend to believe in things like godmen and horoscopes.”
Sundari was scheduled to hit theatres in April, but was postponed in the wake of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Gogana revealed. Then, the film was supposed to premiere on Amazon Prime Video, but the makers retracted and opted for a theatrical release after the Telangana film exhibitors requested producers to wait until theatres reopened.
Gogana said that he too wanted the audience to watch Sundari in theatres since he has adopted some “new concepts” in the film. “The background music is important for the film. The whole film was shot in artistic mode, meaning there are no commercial elements like dramatic dialogues or elaborate fight sequences. There are two songs and two background tracks, all composed by Suresh Bobbili,” he added.
On the film’s casting, Gogana said, “Purnaa is a good performer with apt eye expressions. She was my first choice to play the lead. I approached her just before the shoot since I was confident she would accept. Within 10 minutes of my narration, she accepted and gave her dates.”
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Besides Purnaa, Sundari stars Arjun Ambati as the male lead and lyricist Rakendu Mouli in a pivotal role.
With cinematography by Bal Reddy, the film was shot completely in Hyderabad between September and November 2020. The runtime of Sundari is one hour 53 minutes and the post-production works are completed, the filmmaker said.
After its theatrical run, the film will stream on Amazon Prime Video, the director added. Gogana also revealed that the film will be dubbed in Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.
After Sundari, Gogana will collaborate with actor Aadi Saikumar for film which will have Purnaa playing an important role. It will be produced by Vision Cinemas. “We will be going on floors sometime in October. It will be an emotional commercial entertainer,” the director said.