Telugu cinema has evolved into a content-driven industry: Shiva Kandukuri

Shiva Kandukuri made his debut in 2020 with Choosi Choodagane, a romantic comedy. He followed that up with Gamanam (2021), Meet Cute (2022), and more recently, Manu Charitra (2023). As someone whose acting career commenced at the beginning of the pandemic and has gradually continued since the actor has a thing or two to say about the evolving tastes of the audience. “Our industry has evolved from a star-centric industry to a content-driven industry. The craft of acting has also evolved, forcing a lot of us to reconsider everything we have believed about the business so far. Something silly on paper can take off beautifully in the theatres and vice-versa. I treat every film like my first film,” says Shiva. Taking an example from his own film to emphasise his point, Shiva continues, “My last film Manu Charitra, was shot during the end of 2019, but it was released in 2023. The audience’s tastes have clearly outgrown over the years and that is one of the reasons why the film did not work well.”

The actor sounds upbeat about Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana, his upcoming film, where he plays the titular character, a small-town detective. Speaking to Cinema Express in a telephonic interview days before the film’s release, the actor reflects on his pre-release state of mind, saying, “We have locked the final copy and also sent the film to our distributors overseas. It is natural to feel nervous before a film hits the theatres, but we are all satisfied with the film we have made. It is imperative for a team to be satisfied with their work before it is out for the world to see. We cannot predict how the film will fare at the box office, but rest assured, we are optimistic about its prospects. We are hoping it will strike the right chord amongst the audiences.”

The trailer of the film suggests that Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana is a whodunit, with a detective trying to uncover the identity of a serial killer on the loose. The serial killer’s modus operandi involves decapitating the body and replacing it with a dhishti bomma, a ceremonial toy used to ward off the evil eye. Explaining his fascination for crime dramas, Shiva says, “It is one of my favourite genres as an audience. I grow up watching films like Chantabbai (1986). But since we are already exposed to many films in this genre, I was particular about how Bhoothaddam… should not be another cookie-clutter crime drama. There are a handful of details that separate our film from the rest. For starters, the protagonist’s characterisation is new. The bhoothaddam in the title is not just a reference to the magnifying glass, which is commonly used by detectives. It is also a wordplay for the heavy glasses my character Bhaskar wears. Bhaskar is not the physically strong detective you otherwise see in films. His character is quirky but also humane.”

Shiva also emphasises that Bhoothaddam… has an interesting mythology connection that gives the film more novelty. “We are all familiar with dhishti bommalu, but we do not know why people use them. There is a mythological backstory for these dhishti bommalu, that my film’s director Purushottham Raj has incorporated into the narrative. He is well-versed with the puranas actually. Have any conversation with him and he will invariably come up with a mythological reference,” quips Shiva.

The actor also mentions that his film had certain supernatural elements which required the use of VFX. The film’s VFX work was also incidentally one of the reasons why the film’s release had been delayed by an entire year. Shiva answers, “We were supposed to release Bhoothaddam… during March last year but we only received the VFX output in April. Before we could say anything, our producer stepped in and made the call to scrap the existing VFX work and get it redone from scratch.”

Shiva will be appearing next in a prominent role in Sharwanand’s upcoming film, directed by Sriram Adittya. The film, tentatively titled Sharwa 35, stars Krithi Shetty and has music composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab. Speaking about his experience working in the project, Shiva replies, “I play the film’s second lead. It is a big production, where I witnessed great amounts of attention to detail put in the making. This level of scrutiny is usually amiss in the smaller films I have previously worked on, due to time and logistical constraints. It was a great experience and I am happy with the way my character has shaped up. It is important that my character makes notable contributions to the story, runtime notwithstanding.”