HYDERABAD: Director Sudheer Varma has teamed up with actors Sharwanand, Kajal Aggarwal and Kalyani Priyadarshan for a gangster drama titled Ranarangam. Set in the backdrop of 90s Visakhapatnam, it’s the story of a bootlegger who ran the illegal liquor business like an organised crime syndicate. The film shows the Mahanubhavudu actor in two distinct avatars – as a 25-year-old and later as a 45-year-old.
“The film is set during the times when there was total prohibition by then NT Ramarao government. The story flips between present and past showing how Deva started his bootlegging business and his rise up the ranks of this crime syndicate. The reason for choosing Visakhapatnam as the backdrop is because we needed a city that establishes the protagonist’s growth into a gangster. Also, it’s close to Orissa and smuggling alcohol from that State and getting it delivered to homes/other places had been the illegal trade then,” begins Sudheer Varma.
The Swamy Ra Ra director owes his inspirations to the gangster films he’s consumed as a viewer. “Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather series has become classic literature for gangster/mafia films. I think none of the directors have been able to recreate the kind of impact it had on us with their films. The screenplay of Ranarangam is inspired by this classic. It’s the USP of the film. There is also a crucial train sequence which was inspired by The Assassination of Jesse James.”
The film has been in the making for two years and there were several theories that the film has exceeded its stipulated budget and Sudheer has demanded to reshoot certain portions of the film. Sudheer clears the air and shares, “We had shot the film in Kakinada port, but it has become difficult for us to recreate the times when mobile phones didn’t exist. So we have erected a coastal city set in the aluminum factory.
The art director needed some time to complete it and also, Sharwa was shooting for Padi Padi Leche Manasu (2018). As Ranarangam requires him to look in two different avatars with different hairstyles, I have used his existing hairdo for one of the roles and had to wait for him to complete the other part. We had to wait for Kajal Aggarwal’s dates and then we went to Spain to shoot some portions. The post-production had started early this year and the first copy was ready by the end of July.”
Ask him why he had chosen a serious word like Ranarangam as the title, Sudheer replies, “It means a battlefield. Our producer S Naga Vamsi has suggested it as he felt this title would be in sync with the story of a gangster who wages a battle every day in his life. Initially, we have finalised Dalapathi, but it was registered by some other producers.”
So, will there be a sequel to Ranarangam? Sudheer categorically reveals, “I never flirted with the idea of making a sequel to any of my films. After Swamy Ra Ra, many filmmakers have urged me to work on its sequel. But I didn’t get an interesting idea. To answer your question, Sharwanand has suggested an exciting line with a different perspective to Ranarangam. I will definitely love to recreate this world of gangsters provided it turns out to be a successful project this Friday.”
— muralikrishna.db@newindianexpress @onlymurali