There is organic comedy in Gurram Paapireddy, and audiences will enjoy every scene: Murali Manohar

Naresh Agastya and Faria Abdullah are playing the lead pair in the film Gurram Paapireddy. The movie is produced by Venu Saddi, Amar Bura, and Jayakanth (Bobby), and presented by Dr. Sandhya Goli. Director Murali Manohar has crafted the film as a dark comedy with a concept that Telugu cinema hasn’t explored before. With all production activities completed, the movie is set for a grand worldwide theatrical release on the 19th of this month. Speaking in an interview today, director Murali Manohar shared the highlights of the film:

– My native place is Hyderabad. As a kid, watching films like Shiva and Naayakudu drew me towards the film industry. After completing my MBA here, I went to London, where I studied at a film institute and worked at Warner Bros for eight years. Later, I returned to India and started working with director Sampath Nandi. I worked on many of his films and have been in Tollywood since 2010.

– With Sampath Nandi’s support, I made the film Simbba, my first directorial. However, its release got delayed. By then, the project Gurram Paapireddy was already finalized. The producers naturally had doubts – why hadn’t my first movie been released yet? But they ultimately trusted my vision and decided to go ahead with Gurram Paapireddy. I don’t enjoy making regular commercial films. Even Simbba was very different from routine films. Compared to Simbba, Gurram Paapireddy is completely different. My upcoming films will also explore different genres.

– The core story for this film was given by Poorna. The other writers and I worked on the script together. Our initial title was Paramapadasopanam, but we felt it wouldn’t have wide reach, so we changed it to Gurram Paapireddy, which is also the name of the character played by Naresh Agastya. The story revolves around the clash between the clever and the foolish – how life changes when smart people do stupid things and foolish people end up doing smart things. We showcased this contrast with humor. The film contains a lot of organic comedy. Everyone has a bit of craziness in them, and we brought that natural, stupidity-driven humor onto the screen.

– Some people get into trouble because of their foolish actions, and those troubles make us laugh. I never want to make a hero-centric film. I want the hero to simply be a part of the story. While casting, we chose Naresh Agastya because he blends naturally into any story. After talking to him, I felt he was perfect for the role. He performed very naturally as Gurram Paapireddy. After watching films like Jathi Ratnalu and Mathu Vadalara 2, we felt Faria Abdullah would be perfect for the heroine’s role. She performed exceptionally well. She even wrote, sang, and choreographed one of the songs in the film.

– The song “Paisa Dum Dum” appears in the movie when all the characters enter a fictional world. Music director Krishna Saurabh composed it beautifully. Brahmanandam plays a key role in this film – the movie begins and ends with him. When we narrated the concept to him, he immediately agreed. With his experience, he improvised and performed the role brilliantly. During dubbing, he praised the way the film had been made. For this movie, we used a robotic-arm camera setup, which allows for only three to four scenes a day because of the complexity of the setup.

– For another important role, we cast Yogi Babu. He liked the story and agreed, but we didn’t get his dates immediately. We waited for three months. During that time, we worked on other aspects of the film. Since Yogi Babu has huge popularity in Tamil cinema, many are asking whether we will release the movie in Tamil as well. We have received some inquiries from the Tamil industry. We will think about other languages after the film reaches Telugu audiences well. I’m not a fan of the pan-India trend. If a Telugu film succeeds strongly in Telugu states, there will naturally be demand in other languages.

– The movie runs for two and a half hours, but it never feels lengthy. Audiences will enjoy it scene by scene. It’s a fun, lively film with no boring moments. Our release date coincides with the release of Avatar, but that film belongs to a different world and is in English. Ours is a Telugu film, and we hope Telugu audiences will support it. I have a few stories ready for the future – a musical romantic film and a complete horror thriller are in the plans.