'Bhimaa' stars Gopichand in the lead. Directed by A Harsha, the film will head to theatres on March 8. Produced by Sri Sathya Sai Arts's KK Radhamohan, the action thriller takes place in Karnataka.
In this interview, producer Radhamohan says that every project is a risky affair given the low success rate in the film industry. "We producers are driven by passion," he says.
Co-producer Sridhar and director Harsha discussed the story and pitched it to Gopichand, who gave some suggestions. The altered version impressed the hero and that's when I entered the scene. I have had a good rapport with Gopichand.
'Bhimaa' is not a standard-fare commercial entertainer. There are some new elements that Gopichand hasn't done before. He plays a contemporary cop with a difference. Until the release of the second-look poster, the audience didn't know that the hero is a cop. The trailer surprised them even more. The film is going to reveal all the cards in an exciting way.
The mythification aspect might draw comparisons with 'Akhanda' but the stories of the two films have no similarities. The Parasurama Kshetram is where the story is set. Although the story is set in Kannada land, the locals speak Telugu in the film (it is a creative liberty). The story beats and conflicts are completely different in 'Bhimaa' from 'Akhanda'. While there are spiritual elements, the story goes on a different tangent. VFX played a key role. The temple ambience took lots of VFX. Two VFX companies, one in Chennai and the other in Hyderabad, have given superb output.
There is a love track between the hero and Malvika Sharma's character. The latter is a school teacher. But the romantic track is not significant. Priya Bhavani Shankar's character is powerful in the film. The comedy in 'Bhimaa' is situational. The Brahma Rakshasudu characterization of Gopichand is novel in the film. Ravi Basrur of 'KGF' and 'Salaar' has nailed it. The composer has known director Harsha for many years. This is Ravi's first film since 'Salaar' in Telugu. The last 25 minutes are going to give you goosebumps. I have watched the portions thrice. There are many combination scenes involving senior artists like Nassar.
I select the scripts based on my assessment of the tastes of the audience. There is an element of risk in every project. How to minimize the risk factor is where the trick lies. Choosing the right artists is one of the options. My previous film with Gopichand, titled 'Pantham', was not a loss project. Heavy rains did affect the BO collections to an extent but the distributors were happy. When I made 'Bengal Tiger' in 2015, it cost me Rs 33 Cr. With time, budgets have gone up. So, 'Bhimaa' cost me more and it's a natural trend. There is no point in compromising on quality once you have ventured into making a commercial film. With 'Bhimaa', we are going for a big release in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Distributors are eager.
We are releasing 'Bhimaa' on a wide scale in Telugu in other States as well. We are not dubbing the film into Tamil and Kannada or Hindi. The release is going to be big in Karnataka. Star Maa and Disney Plus Hotstar own our film's satellite and OTT rights, respectively. We were fortunate to close the deals six months ago. Of late, OTT rights have crashed. Even audio rights are fetching just Rs 1 Cr where they used to fetch double that amount. The coming one year is going to be a huge challenge for producers. Budgets are being revised these days.
