KM Chaitanya, known for directing Aa Dinagalu and Aatagara, and awaiting the release of Balaramana Dinagalu, is set to direct Ereya, a historical film based on Pulakeshi II. The film, backed by Wingspan Motion Pictures LLP and produced by Sunit Jawadekar and Nivedita Kothare, will follow the life and rule of the Chalukya king, drawing from the research and writing of Dr Bhooshan Shanbhag.
Chaitanya says the project came to him through the producers’ ongoing work with the writer. “They were already working with Bhooshan, who has spent years researching Pulakeshi and has even written a book. They felt this could become a film,” he says. The collaboration had been in discussion for a while. “After Aatagara, they had mentioned we should work together. When this subject came up, they reached out to me. Pulakeshi is a subject any director would want to helm. I didn’t even take time to say yes.”
The director points out that this is new ground for him. “Aa Dinagalu and even my upcoming Balaramana Dinagalu belong to a different space, a retro drama. This is my first film set fully in a historical period,” he says, adding, “The preparation is very different.”
At the same time, Chaitanya is clear about how he wants to approach it. “I come from the theatre. That way of looking at a film stays with you, even if it is made in multiple languages,” he says. “Pulakeshi ruled at a time when present-day state boundaries did not exist. The regions we now know as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu were not defined as they are today, and his empire stretched across large parts of the subcontinent. So the story itself moves across regions, and telling it in multiple languages feels natural.”
He adds that scale alone does not decide reach. Citing Kantara, Chaitanya says it connected because it stayed close to its roots, something he sees as important for Ereya as well.
The film is currently in pre-production, with casting and crew yet to be finalised. Chaitanya plans to begin shooting either by the end of this year or early next year.