With the festive season of Diwali incoming, the makers of all three major films up for release including Pradeep Ranganathan's Dude, Mari Selvaraj-Dhruv Vikram's Bison and Harish Kalyan's Diesel have been promoting their films without a break. Pradeep Ranganathan, along with the cast and crew for Dude have been moving to Chennai and Hyderabad to share stories from their film, and request audiences to watch the entertainer in theatres.
In the latest 'Dude swag event' held in Hyderabad on Wednesday, the director-actor narrated a funny memory with Mamitha Baiju. He recalled, "There were three pictures from the film that were released recently. You can check them out on the internet. During the photoshoot, she had a ton of energy but didn't know where to channel it, so when we were in the process of taking pictures, she kicked me. You might have witnessed me pulling her hair (in the pictures). That is nothing in front of her. She kicked me in such a way that the phone inside my pocket went flying to another terrace and broke."
Pulling her legs, Pradeep said, "You did it. If it was your phone, you will remember. Since it is mine, I am able to remember. What an energy she has! I don't switch my phones often, but after the incident, I had to change it. You (Mamitha) are making me buying a new phone. You give me the money for it."
In an earlier event, Pradeep described Dude as "a simple, small film" made for the festival occasion with entertainment values, comedy and fights. He went on to add, "Beyond the trailer, the film has a strong social message. The director has tried to say something with the film. I think it will be a strong message that is relevant for the times we live in today."
According to Pradeep Ranganathan, the film's altruistic qualities will make it relatable to people of a similar mindset. "Dude is a cool character, one who draws satisfaction from others' happiness," he said.
Directed by debutant Keerthiswaran, Dude also stars R Sarath Kumar, Hridhu Haroon, Rohini, Aishwarya Sharma, and Dravid Selvam, among others. It is produced by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar, with Anil Yerneni serving as the co-producer. Mythri Movie Makers is the banner backing the film.
The trailer, which was released last week, showed Pradeep Ranganathan's character Agan falling in love with Kural (Mamitha Baiju). But Kural isn’t keen on pursuing a romantic relationship with him. From there, the trailer shows us several cuts of Agan going through love, loss and healing until he comes to a realisation about life.
Sai Abhyankkar makes his Tamil cinema debut as a composer with Dude. The rest of the crew of the film includes Niketh Bommi as the cinematographer, Barath Vikraman as the editor, Latha Naidu as the production designer, and Yannick Ben and Dinesh Subbarayan as the stunt choreographers.