Director Prashanth Neel, known for the KGF franchise and Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire, is teaming up with Jr NTR for his next film, Dragon. The film, whose title was announced on Wednesday, marks the filmmaker and the actor's first collaboration. Recently, Prashanth spoke about the film and his experience working with Jr NTR on it.

Speaking to Galatta Plus, Prashanth Neel said that they were prepared to commence production on Dragon around "a year and a half back". They also conducted a look test with the RRR and Janatha Garage star. After the test, Prashanth told the actor whether he could undergo a physical transformation for his role in the film. "I just went up to him and told him that if he became thinner for the role of the assassin, it would help. There is a Chinese saying, 'Beware of what you wish for.' And he became unstoppable after that," Prashanth said, recalling his initial interactions with Jr NTR for Dragon.

Prashanth also revealed that they did not shoot the film for the four months after the look test and that his lead actor lost around 15 kilograms in the meantime. Prashanth revealed, "I asked him to stop many times, in between, because he started looking frail and became paler, but he didn't stop. He said, 'For the story you are writing, I want you to get what you envisioned.'"

Prashanth added that his suggestion to Jr NTR did not go down well with the actor's spouse, mother, and friends, as well as everybody else who knew him and the director's entire team. "They were all upset, but that was not my doing. I just told him to lose a little bit of weight. And he went berserk with it," the filmmaker said.