In this exclusive conversation, Anil Geela speaks with the grounded candour of someone who has seen dreams sprout slowly, season after season, in a field far from the city. Known for their viral channel My Village Show, which brought the rustic wit and rhythms of rural Telangana to millions, he is now stepping into the world of OTT with Mothevari Love Story, a ZEE5 original directed by Shiva Krishna Burra. Set to premiere on August 8, the rural comedy promises laughter rooted in small-town life, family emotions, and a grounded cultural texture.
“For newcomers like me, especially if we are trying to make it as leads, the story has to be strong,” Anil says, adding, “In this series, the story is stronger than my role. It will make you laugh and cry, but more importantly, people will feel like it is their story. I want them to look at me and think, ‘He looks like someone from our home.’ That is the connection I care about.”
Anil’s path to this point has been anything but conventional. A former Mathematics schoolteacher from Siddipet district, he stumbled into digital fame through grassroots comedy sketches that reflected the speech, humour, and struggles of his community. But translating that popularity into the structured, high-stakes world of cinema or OTT wasn’t straightforward. He shares, “On YouTube, people watched me for free. For theatres, they need to spend 100 or 200 rupees to see me. I have to build that trust first. That’s why I felt OTT was the right step. Let me entertain them here, show them I can carry a longer story, and then someday they might walk into a theatre for me.”
My Village Show was always raw and unscripted in its charm, but Mothevari Love Story represents a leap in craft. Written and directed by Shiva Krishna Burra, the series follows Parshi (played by Anil) and Anitha (Varshini), a young couple whose plan to elope is upended by a family secret. It unfolds as a mix of humour and sentiment. “Shiva Krishna wrote these characters in such a quirky way,” Anil says, “There are about six core characters, each fresh and unique.”
Interestingly, Anil isn’t just the series’ lead; he is also its editor. “From my earliest days, I worked behind the camera and in editing,” he explains with a laugh, “Later I started acting out of necessity. For this series, our director liked my edits and asked me to take it up. It was different from YouTube, where whatever I edited was final. Here, our producers gave feedback, but once they saw it, they didn’t question much. That felt encouraging.”
Rural Telangana has been the heartbeat of Anil’s creative work. For him, it’s both comfort and conviction. “Honestly, there are very few filmmakers from places like Karimnagar or Jagtial,” he observes and recalls, “We learned filmmaking on our own and started by telling the stories around us. When ZEE5 needed a rural story, they felt we were the best fit. This world is ours. We know these characters, these dialects, this texture.”
But he is quick to add how difficult it has been for creators like him to cross over. He reveals, “In our industry, directors often pick actors they know personally. That’s natural. Even My Village Show was filled with my friends. But that means if you don’t have contacts, if filmmakers don’t see you, it is hard to break in. That’s why this chance with ZEE5 matters so much. They reached out to us.”
For Anil, Mothevari Love Story is as much a milestone as it is a gamble. “I didn’t take a single rupee as remuneration for this,” he admits, “Neither did the director. We put everything into the series. For six months, I even stopped uploading to YouTube. I come from a simple middle-class family. Opportunities like this are rare for people like us, so when one comes, you have to leave everything and give it everything. That’s what we did.”
He also sees this as part of a larger evolution. “Our next project is another OTT film, and I’ve taken up writing for it,” he grins and reveals, “We don’t know what tomorrow will look like, so we are ready for anything, acting, writing, editing, whatever it takes.”
Mothevari Love Story also boasts music by Charan Arjun and cinematography by Sreekanth Arupula, and is backed by producers Madhura Sreedhar Reddy and Srikanth Sriram. “For eight years we learned, step by step,” Anil says softly, “We never made shabby content. We kept improving. Now, from that little YouTube channel in Dargapally to a ZEE5 original, it feels like a journey.”
He pauses, then adds simply, “I just hope people see the heart we’ve put in. If they laugh, cry, and see themselves in it, I’ll feel we’ve done our job.”
