Director Sanejev Reddy, who has previously helmed Allu Sirish's ABCD and Raj Tarun's web original Aha Naa Pellanta, awaits the release of Santhana Prapthirasthu on November 14th. In this interview, he talks about the essence of his most important theatrical release in this interview. Led by Vikranth Reddy and Chandini Chowdary, the film attempts to normalize the taboo topic of male infertility.
The film features a screenplay by the director himself and Sheikh Dawood G, with music composed by Sunil Kashyap. The star cast includes Vennela Kishore, Abhinav Gomatam, Muralidhar Goud, Sri Lakshmi, Harsha Vardhan, Bindu Chandramouli, Jeevan Kumar, Satya Krishna, Thagubotu Ramesh, Abhay Bethiganti, Kireeti, Anil Geela, and Saddam.
I ventured into the movie industry as an AD under Krishna Vamsi. I worked on (Srikanth's) Mahatma to begin with. Later, I directed Ad films, among others. Login (Hindi) won critical acclaim; based on it Ladies and Gentlemen, a feature film, was made. I also directed Telangana government’s anti-drug campaign featuring Megastar Chiranjeevi.
Santhana Prapthirasthu brings out the emotional distress and social stigma that male infertility entails in our society. Even though it is a commonplace issue, there is awkward silence around it. Having seen individuals I know suffer from it, I decided to write a story around the issue. Incidentally, mine is the first Telugu film to touch upon the issue. It helped that my male lead, Vikranth, is sensitive towards the topic, having seen real-life cases. Low-sperm count is one of the main drivers of male infertility. The male lead tests positive for the problem.
As the trailer showed, the film takes off as a love story. It then enters the family drama and entertainment zone. The cultural relevance of the story is obvious.
A film of this sort has to be watched by the family audience without them feeling discomfort. The writing team was conscious of this aspect from the beginning. A few US-based individuals with a strong technical grounding have watched the movie already. A few producers here in Hyderabad have also gone through the content. Their unanimous opinion is that Santhana Prapthirasthu is tasteful and gets its messaging right. This was possible because I dealt with the issue with the seriousness and dignity it deserved.
The humour quotient in the film was necessitated by the conscious decision to avoid melodrama. Making things overtly dramatic can result in the topic being discussed losing its potency. The worth of this story is entirely driven by the power of storytelling. Which is why a star hero was not supposed to carry it. Someone with no image was required to headline it.
In the age of streaming, films need to be content-rich. In recent months, we have seen how Little Hearts and Court became box-office hits.
I was intent on casting a native Telugu speaker from the beginning. Even though it's a married woman's role, Chandini was not a bit hesitant. Tharun Bhascker's character is pivotal.
