Telugu actor Nani's Dasara is gearing up for a massive theatrical release on March 30 and is billed to be an out-and-out intense action drama. The upcoming period action adventure film produced under the Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Cinemas banner has been directed by debutant Srikanth Odela and also stars National Award-winning actress Keerthy Suresh as the female lead, with music composed by Santhosh Narayanan. With less than a week for its grand release in cinemas, Nani recently sat down with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, to talk about Dasara and how commercial cinema has evolved over the years.
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Explaining what a theatre film is and how Dasara fits the bill, Nani states, "It's a film where there are moments, which you want to scream to or you want to root for that character. You want someone to join in your reaction. You won't do that if you're watching it alone. And also, I'm a big fan of commercial films, but in the last decade or so, at one point it became about having a few elements like looking colorful elements with no story. It's just back-to-back jokes, fights and songs." He added, "The commercial cinema I loved used to be something, which had this full story going on and relatable emotions where you cry and laugh along with them, and you'll also whistle when there's an action episode. So, that feeling of relation went away. There are so many films, but I obviously can't take names. At that point, I thought, we've lost that commercial factor and now there's a different meaning to it."
Nani continued, "I'm glad every year something new comes along. A good example for that is Vikram. It's a stylish and nicely made film. It's not trying to tell you, 'This is enough for you. You wanted a commercial cinema? So, take it!' No, it was a very well-made film. There's an interesting and unique screenplay. And, that also is a theatre film where you get all those highs. And, then RRR, which did very well everywhere because of its emotion because you feel for them (on the screen). And, there's KGF in Kannada and the visual film-making, which was next level. The editing style made us want to watch it on the big screen." He goes on to speak about Dasara saying, "It also has that strong element where in between those theatre moments, there's a strong story happening and the characters are normal people. It's not like every scene is without any logic. There are scenes that feel almost like very basic. The guy is very weak in a few scenes, very flawed, very normal, and not black or white. There's a moment when it will all come together and he will rise to the occasion. So, those kind of films are my kind of commercial cinema and I would love to see a film like that in the theatre." Upon being queried about Dasara being made with a possible sequel in mind, Nani replied, "No, no. Not really. I'm sure now, what happens is, if the audience makes it a huge blockbuster, I can't give a guarantee that there won't be a new thought happening in Srikanth's head. But, when we started off, it was never meant to be a (sequel)."
Watch Nani in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan about Dasara below:
