Director Karthik Naren, of Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru fame, is making his acting debut with Kannadi, directed by Caarthik Raju. The Tamil-Telugu bilingual stars Sundeep Kishan and Anya Singh in the lead. The movie is currently in post-production.
Sundeep Kishan, also the co-producer of the movie, told Silverscreen, “Both Karthik and Malavika Nair (of Cukkoo fame) are playing extended cameos in the film, in important roles. Their portion in the second half is kind of a surprise and it forms premise of that footage. We needed someone who was young and quirky, and we got them on board.”
The film is titled Kannadi in Tamil and Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene in Telugu. Director Caarthik Raju, of Thirudan Police fame, said, “The concept of the movie is that you can cheat others but not yourself when you stand in front of a mirror.” The movie has been shot in Tamil and Telugu, and will release simultaneously in both languages.
Caarthik Raju also said, “We’ve used different artistes for Tamil and Telugu. Because of the variation in the languages, the runtime for the two versions will be different.” The roles of Karunakaran, Anandraj and Poornima Bhagyaraj in Tamil are played by Vennela Kishore, Posani Krishna Murali, Pragathi in Telugu.
The music for the first half of the movie is complete. Work on the background score for second half has begun, and the makers are planning to release a teaser by the third week of April. The official poster released in January.
Wishing every day of the new year to be filled with success, happiness and prosperity for you,
Happy new year 2019.
From Team – #NinuVeedaniNeedanuNene@sundeepkishan @anyasinghoff #NinuVeedaniNeedanuNene #CaarthickRaju #NVNN pic.twitter.com/pYUPJgcDEm— Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene (@officialNvnN) January 1, 2019
Sundeep says the film is an emotional supernatural thriller, a genre of movies which he has always enjoyed watching. The film stars him and Anya Singh as MBA students, and it’s his first production venture under his banner Venkatadri Talkies.
Sundeep says, “I felt a sense of responsibility to get the best outcome of the script that was on paper. Caarthik and Pramod (the DOP) have a particular style of working, and it was important to understand that and provide what they wanted. There’s also lot of CG work, and that’s why the post-production is taking long. But we’re enjoying the editing process.”
The film also is special for the makers because Siddharth has rendered one of the songs ‘Excuse Me Rakshasi’ in Telugu. This is the first time Siddharth has sung for another actor. “The one reason I have rendered this song is my friend Sundeep Kishan. He is like a younger brother to me. He is producing a film for the first time and I wanted to sing a song for his first film,” he told Indian Express.