Sreenu Vaitla returns to film direction after six years with his upcoming film Viswam, starring Gopichand, which hits theatres this Friday. His previous film, Amar Akbar Anthony (2018), was a box-office failure. Explaining the reasons for the long gap between the two films, Sreenu states, “Even though I hadn’t made a film in these years, I noticed my style of humour is liked and circulated often on social media. People said that I was getting repetitive in my themes, so I had to crack a fresh theme with my entertainment style—that’s not an easy thing, and takes time to crack.” The director describes his experience working on the 2018 film as a “decision made during a period of confusion.” He adds that while his producers recovered their investment on the project, his personal learnings from the film were to consider the audiences’ demands as much as the producers’ interests.
For Viswam, Sreenu recalls taking eight months to work on the script after Gopichand agreed on a concept to collaborate on. “I wanted to take time to blend various elements and genres as per my satisfaction—elements that are expected from me. Besides action and hilarious entertainment, the story here will also have emotional depth, which I haven’t dealt with before,” he notes.
When the trailer for Viswam was unveiled, filmgoers couldn’t help but notice the incorporation of an extensive train sequence, which seems to be a homage to the iconic sequence from Sreenu Vaitla’s 2004 film Venky. The director states that while he understands the need for comparison, the two sequences are different in nature. “It comes organically in our screenplay. And while it’s equally hilarious, there is also an undercurrent of danger this time. We brought many comedians, and all of them—Vennela Kishore, VTV Ganesh, Naresh, Pragathi, and Ajay Ghosh—did a fantastic job,” he elaborates. Further talking about the use of situational comedy in his film, Sreenu says, “If we bring out comedy in a good way, it will work and then be used for social media content. It can’t be vice versa, where we use memes or social media to write our comic moments—audience won’t respect us then.”
The promos for Viswam also hint at different genres and tones. While the first glimpse had a darker mood, with Gopichand’s character going off on a shooting spree, the following teasers imply a more balanced mix of genres. Gopichand notes that the film also had a subtle social message towards the end, stating, “We have taken a basic point about what is happening in India right now, without stressing too much on it. We talk about it only in the last segment, suggesting that it would be good for the nation if we did some things."
Both Sreenu Vaitla and Gopichand also underline that the action sequences in Viswam are unlike a regular commercial actioner. Recalling his experience working with action director Ravi Varma, Gopichand notes, “We decidedly went for a more sleek brand of action, instead of larger-than-life. There are only a few action scenes, but their impact-value is high.” Sreenu also notes that they didn’t want to go for moments where villains fly in the air after a few punches from the hero figure. “The heroism should come from action moments, instead of him being a pre-established heroic figure.”
The audience’s tastes and preferences have undergone a significant shift in the post-COVID times. Gopichand, however, disagrees with the notion, stating that audiences are still looking for pure escapist entertainment, something that distracts them from their daily woes and troubles. He elaborates, “If we can involve them and keep them in grip, the film will work. However, if we lose their attention 10 minutes after connecting with them, they will deviate. That’s how a film falters.”
Gopichand goes on to describe Viswam as a bona fide festival film, which all segments of the audience can enjoy equally, adding, “There are no double meaning dialogues either; it’s all clean entertainment.” On the other hand, Sreenu Vaitla mentions that he had no intentions to go after a pan-India audience, as the trend seems to be dictating nowadays. “Even though we have touched upon a country-wide relevant issue, Viswam is purely for Telugu audiences,” he signs off.
