In Srikanth Nagothi’s upcoming film Bhanumati Ramakrishna, the lead characters are in their early 30s and their age becomes one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to finding love and getting married.
It’s an uncharted territory within the ambit of contemporary Telugu cinema, and the concept was one of the reasons why Salony Luthra took it up instantly.
“I made my debut in Tamil with Sarabham and it was well-received. After that, I did a slew of serious dramas like Kajal, Forbidden, and Turned Out, and I was really hoping to do something light-hearted.
It was then Srikanth narrated me the story of Bhanumati Ramakrishna,” Salony reveals, adding, “The story is narrated from the girl’s perspective. She wants to be modern, but she feels that her name, Bhanumati, is too traditional. But then, she ends up falling in love with a guy named Ramakrishna, who’s the polar opposite of who she is as a person.
It’s almost as if her life comes a full circle”The actor is all praise for director Srikanth and says that she was pleasantly surprised with his point of view. “The way he wrote and visualised the central character was quite refreshing. Bhanumati is flawed, makes her own choices, but at the same time, she learns to be a better person. One of the central themes of the film is about how society gets quite judgemental if men and women don’t marry early. As a result, she gets irritated when people ask her why she isn’t married yet, and all this pressure takes a major toll on her health too.
In fact, Srikanth wanted me to put on weight for the role because Bhanumati goes through a breakup which aggravates her stress levels. I found the whole story quite genuine and I hope it inspires young women to be a better version of themselves,” Salony avers. After Sarabham, Salony reunited once again with her co-star Naveen Chandra, who played Ramakrishna in this film.