Rajamouli garu's advice helped me, says director Prasanth

HanuMan is a superhero film inspired by the iconic character Lord Hanuman from the Indian epic Ramayana. Starring Teja Sajja, the fantasy film is about how an ordinary youngster gets extraordinary powers in certain situations. The film’s director Prasanth Varma says that since childhood he was fascinated with epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata and wanted to explore the blend of mythology and socio fantasy.

“I actually wanted to make a series of superhero films and HanuMan is the first one. We have so many stories in our mythology epics, I felt this is the right time to tell stories that are rooted and culturally inclined,” explains Prasanth.

He says no matter how many times we tell the tales of Lord Hanuman and his heroics it is always interesting, especially for kids. “Just like Marvel films in Hollywood, our epics have several unheard tales that can be grippingly narrated. I am sure after HanuMan several superhero films will come,” he explains, describing superhero genre films as ‘money spinners’ at the box office.

Prasanth initially thought that superhero films work in Hollywood because of the superior Vfx, but later realised that editing and visually appealing storytelling are even more important.

Many asked the director why he cast Teja Sajja to play a superhero in such a big-budget film. He said that since the film is about an ordinary man getting extraordinary powers he felt a newcomer would be ideal. “If a newbie like Teja gets external powers then there’s a wow factor in it. Audiences can feel like even they can get the power. So if a youngster gets power what can he do and where does it takes him is being narrated in a fun and entertaining way.”

The director further says, “I have tried to understand what a ‘larger-than-life’ cinema is about and through HanuMan I came close to making one. So I am trying to make films that are high on concepts and have universal appeal.”

The director faced challenges in the film’s post-production stage. Rendering, colour corrections, etc., took a lot of time. For any film that is high on Vfx, takes time. But Prasanth got the best advice from director S.S. Rajamouli who saw the teaser initially.

“Generally after shooting we send the entire footage to Vfx. Instead, Rajamouli garu asked me to first edit the footage and send only shots that required computer graphics (CG). This helped us save time, cost and effort. We shall be ever grateful to him for his advice,” says Prasanth, adding that the ace director also suggested a few aspects on the technical front.

Ravi Teja has given the voice for a monkey character, Koti, in the film. Koti is a hilarious character and it needs a satirical voice.

“I requested Ravi Teja garu, he perfectly fit the bill and I am thankful to him for honouring the request immediately.”