Devanuru is not just a place that sits on the margins of director Devanuru Chandru's name; it is the centre of his first film, Gramayana. "Everything in this film comes from there," he says, referring to the village where he grew up.

That lived world has now been translated into cinema, with Vinay Rajkumar stepping in as Sixth Sense Seena, a character who sits somewhere between instinct and unrest, myth and memory. "Even though Seena is the lens, this is not a single-hero story. Every character carries equal weight. Nobody is fully right or fully wrong. Everyone has their own version of truth," says the filmmaker. The trailer has already stirred curiosity for its grounded tone and mystery, but Chandru is clear that the film is not built for effect. "It is drawn from what I saw and penned between 2007 and 2013, a time when Karnataka was going through political chaos."

Produced by G Manoharan, and Naveen Manoharan, (Lahari Films), Gramayana brings together an ensemble that includes Vinay, Yogi as the antagonist, Megha Shetty, Achyuth Kumar, Gopal Krishna Deshpande and Arun Sagar, among others. The film has music by Poornachandra Tejaswi and cinematography by Santhosh Rai Pathaje.

Chandru's journey to this point runs through Abhinaya Taranga, where he performed in over 1,500 plays before assisting on films such as Maleyali Jotheyali and Sakkare. "Theatre gave me discipline. Cinema taught me patience," he says.

At one point, he recalls, the script became almost unmanageable. "When I started writing in 2007 and continued for years, it went up to nearly 1,500 pages," he says. "What you are seeing now is only a portion of that world, focused on a specific stretch of time."

Vinay Rajkumar's entry into the project came after multiple casting setbacks. The story was narrated to several actors, but it did not move forward. "With Vinay, it clicked. He understood the physicality, the silence, and the unpredictability of the role. He had to be massy, but also restrained. Grounded, but slightly unstable," says Chandru.

Alongside him, Megha Shetty as Kusuma and Aparna as the mother character form the emotional core of the film. Chandru is clear that even characters like Kare Beku, played by Yogi, are not written as one note. "I never write people as symbols. They come from observation."

That realism extends to the way the film was shot. "I cannot work inside sets. My brain stops working." Much of Gramayana was filmed in real locations, with Devanuru itself becoming part of the process. "The villagers slowly became part of the film," he says. "At first, they were curious. Then they became familiar. Eventually, they blended into it, standing around, walking into frames, sometimes even helping without being asked. That energy cannot be manufactured."

Interestingly, he notes that the idea of Gramayana predates the wave of rural narratives that later found mainstream success in films like Rangasthalam and Kantara. "Back then, people were unsure of this tone. It was difficult to convince producers. They did not know how to place it."

But Chandru never altered his writing to fit trends. "It has songs, it has action, it has mass elements, but the drama is the backbone," he says. "It is not a genre film. It is Seena's journey, and through him, the journey of a place and its people."

As the July 3 release approaches, Chandru remains rooted in the same honesty that shaped the film. "Making the film was personal. If it connects, it will be because people recognise their own Gramayana in it."