Bun Tea, the upcoming multilingual film directed by Udaya Kumar PS, is a drama revolving around education for underprivileged children, the film’s production designer Krishna tells Silverscreen India. He adds that they plan to rope in popular actors from across South Indian film industries for guest appearances in the climax.
The film’s title poster was released by actors Vijay Sethupathi, Shine Tom Chacko, and Gayathri Suresh through their social media accounts last week.
Bun Tea is produced by R Keshava with K Dhanush Yadav serving as the executive producer and B Naveen Reddy as the project designer. Apart from directing, Kumar, who previously directed Karmoda Saridu in 2019, has also written and edited Bun Tea.
Talking about how the project took off, Krishna says that Reddy and he were working on a film called Khakii (2020) earlier, where Kumar was an associate. “At the time, we were planning to work on a project based on children and that’s when we learned about Kumar’s idea. After getting the producers on board, we decided to shoot the film in all South Indian languages for better reach,” Krishna adds.
He further notes that slum localities are found in all states of India and the struggles of those living there will be relatable to people across the country. Hence, it made sense for Bun Tea to be a multilingual film.
Bun Tea has been shot in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. Set against the backdrop of a slum area, the film follows the story of two brothers.
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As per the official synopsis, “The story revolves around a young boy named Bun Tea from a slum, who wants to fulfil his younger brother Ashok’s wish of studying in a private school, so that he gets a better education and can uplift their lifestyle. In a turn of events, the boy is asked to not attend classes, after being enrolled in the private school. The rest of the story follows the efforts taken by Bun Tea to resolve the problem.”
The two boys are played by debutants Mauriya and Tanmay, who were selected through auditions. The film also features actors Umesh, Nisha, and Sridevi in pivotal roles.
Pre-production was done between December 2021 and January 2022, and the film was shot in Bengaluru’s KR Puram from February 1 to 26. While the climax remains to be shot, post-production has already begun.
“We are planning to send Bun Tea to film festivals, following which there will be a theatrical release,” says Krishna.
The film will be released by Flix Entertainment across India, and by Movie Media Entertainments in Kerala.