Jayamma Panchayathi, the upcoming Telugu film led by anchor-actor Suma Kanakala, is a rural satirical drama, director Vijay Kumar Kalivarapu tells Silverscreen India.
The film, whose trailer was released recently, is scheduled to hit the big screens on May 6. It is produced by Balaga Prakash.
Speaking about the upcoming film, which marks his directorial debut, Kalivarapu says, “Jayamma Panchayathi is the story of a strong-willed woman named Jayamma, who goes to any extent to solve her problems. While she is concerned about her surroundings, she is also daring and bold. The story takes place in a village in northern Andhra Pradesh and it is set in the early 2000s, around 2006.”
“There is an element of dark comedy in the film,” adds Kalivarapu, who has also written the story, screenplay, and dialogues.
The film is based on a certain incident that happened in the filmmaker’s childhood. “There is a particular traditional custom in households across rural areas in India – I don’t want to elaborate much on what it is as it will give away the plot. But one incident involving that custom, which took me by surprise during my childhood, inspired me to write this film.”
“I wrote the script in 2020 and completed it within a few months. I initially thought of making it as a small film, but as the team formed, it became bigger and many people supported the film,” he adds.
Kanakala portrays the titular role and the filmmaker mentions that most of the other cast members are local theatre artistes from Andhra Pradesh’s northern region. “We have about 70 theatre artists. We have used sync sound because it is hard to dub with several newcomers,” he explains.
The film went on floors in March 2021 and was shot in northern Andhra Pradesh by cinematographer Anush Kumar. It was wrapped up in December. Ravi Teja Girijala is the film’s editor.
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Jayamma Panchayathi’s music is by MM Keeravani, who has composed four songs for the film.
“There have been conversations about why small, rooted films are coming out only in Malayalam and Tamil, and not in Telugu. There are many big Telugu films, but there seems to be a dearth of smaller films with interesting points, which are authentic and entertaining. I hope this film will bridge that gap,” the filmmaker says.
Kalivarapu tells us he will be working on a fantasy comedy-drama script after this project.