Actor Sumanth is coming up with Mahendragiri Varahi, a devotional thriller directed by Santosh Jagarlamudi. Kalipi Madhu and Laxman are jointly producing the film under their Raja Syamala Entertainments and Bridge Films banners. Siddhu Jonnalagadda is playing a key role in the film, which is set to hit the screens on September 11. Sumanth is promoting the film like never before.
“This is a big budget for me in recent times and we are promoting very aggressively. The producers also made this film on a big scale. We are releasing the film in Tamil and Hindi, apart from Telugu,” said Sumanth about the promotions. “We are confident about the film as the teaser and trailer got a good response from everywhere,” he added.
The actor said that he liked the story very much when director Santosh narrated it to him in a single sitting. “The interval episode, pre-climax and the climax give a very high to the audience. Santosh is strong about puranas, vedas and the mythological part, so whatever he narrated to me, he put the same on the screen. This is going to be a good film for him and luckily everything is placed in the right place, like VFX, theatre experience and the actors,” said Sumanth about the film.
Talking about his role, Sumanth said that he is playing a YouTuber. “I play a YouTuber and I explore black magic and superstitions. I can’t reveal much about my role as there is a family drama and all the commercial ingredients in this film,” said the actor.
He added that Siddhu Jonnalagadda’s role is very interesting. “We both have one scene which is going to be the key and it also came out very well. People who saw the film told me that scene is going to be the highlight and definitely helps our film,” he said. He also thanked Siddhu for accepting the role.
For a question about the current trend of mythological films, Sumanth said that the trend has been there for a long time. “But it started again with Kantara, Karthikeya once again. We fixed this film nearly three years back and we didn’t get the right producers. After one year, Madhu garu came and then Laxman garu also joined in the production. Actually, after 60 per cent of the shoot was completed, Laxman garu saw our footage and the scenes and then came on board as a producer. You all know Laxman garu made several successful films with Dil Raju garu earlier and we are happy that he joined us as a producer,” said Sumanth.
His earlier film Newton 3rd Law released a few days ago. Although it received positive word of mouth, it did not perform well in theatres. Talking about the film’s theatrical run, Sumanth said, “Sometimes the release time may not be correct, because it came along with Spider-Man, so I don’t know. Sometimes it happens and in the Telugu film industry many films didn’t do well in theatres, but later they became classics. One fine example is my grandfather (Akkineni Nageswara Rao)’s film Batasari. Newton 3rd Law is not for the B and C centre crowd, it’s a multiplex film and class film. It has already proven a valued one, because many people called me and talked about the film,” said Sumanth.
He added that several films did not perform well theatrically but found appreciation later.
Sumanth has two films releasing within a short span, but the actor said that he may take some time before his next project. “I didn’t finalise any subject, as I am listening to now. It may take time for me,” said Sumanth.
He added that he is open to doing negative roles, as he had mentioned earlier. “If it is a well-written role, I am ready to do a negative role,” said Sumanth.