The month of February seems to carry some connection for Suri. His directorial debut, Duniya, was released on February 23, 2007, and Inti Ninna Preethiya, Junglee, and his last release, Tagaru, too hit the screens in February. Now the latest to join the list is Popcorn Monkey Tiger, which is all set to be out on February 21. The director considers this just a coincidence.
“We had planned for February 14, for Valentine’s Day, but got pushed by a week. So we are now releasing it on Shivarathri,” says Suri, adding that every situation and moment has a meaning.
Suri is a director who likes to give a fresh thought to each film and admits that with Popcorn Monkey Tiger, he has brought in a change in the working pattern.
“A few people who had worked with me over the last few years left the team to seek better career prospects. While wishing them good luck, I brought in a new lot of technicians, including screenplay writer Amritha K Bhargav, DOP Shekar and Malla for Popcorn Monkey Tiger. While I have worked with music director Charan Raj in Tagaru, he has reached another level with Popcorn Monkey Tiger, and joining him is Jayanth Kaikini’s son, Ritwik. I was happy to give a lot of work to these enthusiastic and fresh technicians and it brought in a whole new experience for me too,” says Suri, whose film also saw a change of producer with KP Srikanth exiting the project and Sudhir KM, who was working as a productional manager, taking over the responsibility of producing the film.
“It was a mutual decision between Srikanth and me. Let me reiterate, Tagaru wouldn’t have got that big scale without the support of Srikanth, Shivanna (actor Shivarajkuamr) and Nagi, and they have always had good faith in my presentation. If destined, we will come together for another project,” he says.
Except for a teaser and the song ‘Maadeva’, Suri has not revealed much about Popcorn Monkey Tiger. The film’s story revolves around the mafia world and is narrated through two characters -- Seena and Devika. It is based on human values.
“I hope that by revealing very few details, I will have the audience waiting to watch something fresh when they enter the theatres,” says the director, explaining that while viewers continue to have the same mindset of going to theatres to watch a movie, the influence of technology has limited them to the comfort of a desk.
“Today, everyone tends to follow the fast-food lifestyle. Whatever shooting happens in a day should be out on YouTube. There were times when I was shooting and people would ask me when it would come on TV. Today, we have the audience asking, when can I see it on mobile. At present, the challenge for me is that I should not allow them to watch the film on mobile and experience it in theatres. I didn’t learn movie-making by watching films on mobiles. I went to theatres and experienced the sound designing, the visuals and works of some great filmmakers before I got down to directing a film. I want people to experience our effort in theatres. That’s one of the reasons I have revealed very little about the film,” he asserts.
Talking about the ensemble star cast of Popcorn Monkey Tiger, which features Dhananjay and Niveditha in the lead roles, and having Sapthami Gowda, Monisha Nadgir and Amrutha Iyengar playing prominent characters, Suri says that he has been lucky in getting the right actors in all his films.
“While all my films have been getting the best music, actors have always brought in life to my canvas and with flying colours, which is also the case with Popcorn Monkey Tiger. Every actor who is a part of this film has done an excellent job,” he says.
Suri chose to set the story amid the mafia world because he was looking for something that reflects a peak in power, which is something he could not do by showing the characters as lawyers, police persons or ministers. “The world of mafia has a lot of variations, and the emotions at such places are close to death, and that is something I wanted to explore on screen. The film is close to reality as emotions shared by various people have been reflected through the different episodes in our film,” he says.
Ask Suri about what the audience should expect from Popcorn Monkey Tiger, and he says that cinema is all about entertainment. “I don’t want to debate the right and wrong of it. It all depends on each thought and how it will impact them, and that is something we can’t gauge,” says the director.
“The audience believes in me, and they are aware that when it comes to entertainment, I will not cheat on them. It is a mutual feeling. I should not cheat the audience in the name of entertainment. There are times that my films did not turn out the way I thought and I have explained it to them. So I want them to watch Popcorn Monkey Tiger with no expectations,” he says.