Taking a cue from the issues affecting the country today, be it women’s security, terrorism or even general societal awareness, actor-politician-director-producer Jeevitha Rajasekhar will soon be releasing her fourth directorial venture Mahankali. Slated to be released on International Women’s Day, the director takes pride in being one of the few renowned women directors of the Telugu film industry. Rather than going by the commercial formula for movies, she is one such director, who has her heart in films and believes they serve a larger purpose rather than just entertainment.
“Rajasekhar garu and I believe that movie is a strong media and should be used to convey a message to people. We have tried to put in a similar effort in our latest movie Mahankali to motivate people, so that they can find solutions to the problems of the society. I also believe that atleast 55 per cent people will follow, and if that is delivered, we are happy and satisfied,” she explains.
The trailer of Mahankali was released a couple of days ago, which will be screened at the movies soon. Adding more on the plot of the story, Jeevitha explains, “Hero Rajasekhar plays an encounter cop. One would have seen him as a cop in many of his movies, but his character Mahankali is closer to reality. We do not have unbelievable action scenes with people flying in the air, but we have believable stunts,” she says.
Jeevitha then adds that the story revolves around the many incidents happening in our country, including the latest Delhi rape incident, bomb blasts or the terrorist attacks. “No matter how many criminals are arrested, they have not been punished very severely. The movie gives solutions to all these problems,”she says.
Jeevitha opines that punishment should be equal for everybody, irrespective of their religion, caste or any other factor. “Many things come into consideration and things get delayed while punishing a criminal. The punishment should be equal, for every criminal should be the same, as ultimately, the ones who are suffering are the common people. While many are thinking about how stringent the laws should be made, in Mahankali, we try and show how,” says the director.
“When people see it, it won’t come across as a movie directed by a woman. There are many action scenes through the course of the film. I myself could not believe I directed all that,” she laughs.
Emphasising on the need for doing their bit to the society, she says,”Our family would love to do anything that can help the society. We want to stand as an example to many people and hope that it will become an inspiration for them.”