Narayana & Co a novel entertainer - Sudhakar Komakula

Sudhakar Komakula shot to fame with the youthful entertainer Life is Beautiful directed by Sekhar Kammula. He starred in films like Hang Up, Vundiley Manchikalam Mundhu Mundhuna, Kundanapu Bomma and showcased his mulitple talents in Nuvvu Thopu Ra. He appeared in important roles in Ravi Teja's Krack and Karthikeya's Rja Vikramarka. He is not only starring but also producing Narayana & Co which is releasing on 30 June 2023. CineJosh special chit chat with Sudhakar Komakula on this occasion.

✴️ First of all congrats to you. Trailer is very hilarious. How would be the film like?

 - Thank You. The film also be in the similar entertaining tone. Right from the start till the finish it will be entertaining and hilarious and there will be no serious elements.

✴️ What is the duration of the film.?

- Duration is 2 hours 16 minutes and if we take out other things, it will come to 2hours 10 minutes. First half will be little lengthy but the second half will be racy.

✴️ How did the project shapeout.?

- It all happened when I along with cinematographer Siddam Manohar has been working for a test shoot for an experimental project GD(Gundello Dammu) and it is all about four youngsters young out in a car and the experiences faced by them and how they dealt with them. It is an message oriented comedy film. Then he asked about my next projects. He told me that my role will be different and the father of the protagonist.

✴️ So you accepted the role without any ego.?

- Even I felt it will be different and comfortable. I heard the story and it was different and innocent comedy. While Jathi Ratnalu is a youthful entertainer, this is family entertainer with hilarious comedy. During second wave many left in the middle and at that time, I decided to become one of the producer and raised funds.

✴️ You turned producer with confidence in the script.?

- Once I enter any project, I cannot sleep till it  is completed. After I turned the producer and became part of it, the quality increased and I roped in known faces and experienced technicians. Three to four music directors gave songs and BGM and it was the smart way of doing things. We got one mass song, one family song, one entertaining song and different genres and it helped the film. This also helped in the audio rights sold for a fancy sum.

✴️ Why did you not take offers after Krack.?

- Though I got offers I decided not to do supporting roles because I may get recognition but will get typecast by the makers. I decided to do lead roles and I did Krack as I got it in a different situation and my friend during Raja Vikramarka time, I did both ACP and Constable role parallel. I did an experiment doing negative and positive roles.

✴️ You didnot get such roles later.?

- Gopichand Malineni gave good role for me in Krack and it got good recognition. Though I got supporting roles, GD and Narayana & Co happened and I got busy . Apart from it, I had to concentrate on my wife's pregnancy and I did very less films.

✴️ You are blessed with a boy or girl.?

- Boy. However, with in three months my father passed away. But I had to shoot energetic songs within ten days of the demise.

✴️ How did you miss your friend Anil Ravipudi film.?

- I didnot miss it. He didnot ready any role for me. But he will definitely offer role for me.

✴️ We head that during Gali Sampath time, you would be doing with Anil Ravipudi.?

- That can be there. But I concentrated on personal things and I want to take some time to recoup.

✴️ When you heard Narayana & Co script did you get 'entertained, excited or thrilled'.?

- I got entertained. We get excited when we see Jandhyala and SV.Krishna Reddy. Nowadays people are busy with action and bold entertainers.

✴️ Heard that artists were selected in a selective manner. Devi Prasad for the father role?

- Director had some artists in mind and Devi Prasad was one of them. Aamani was not there for mother character. But I felt Aamani would suit for mother character.

✴️ Aamani's character is an extension of Subhalagnam

- We placed the song ' Eduriniti Mangalgouri'

✴️ About your role and other roles.?

- My role will be limited and my wife's role Arati will also be limited though important. My Maradalu's role will be more. Depending on script we included the roles.

✴️ What are those cat drawings.?

- Cat drawings result in a crime and if you notice a red cat is also there in the poster. As people belive cat is a bad omen we thought about it.

✴️ What about your technicians.?

- Josyubhatla Sharma is my friend and I felt that he didnot get a break and so we made him tune one comedy song and he did a duet. The song came out quite well. Dandahank song was tuned by Naga Vamsi, a Telangana youngster. We planned a mass song and were keen on doing it with Suresh Bobbili. Background  music done by Kamran.Rahul Srivastav did a good job as a cinematographer. Srujana handled the editing and they gave a good output. Codirector Dilip worked hard but unfortunately he passed away. We remember his good work.

✴️ What about working days, promotions etc.?

- We did it in 37 working days and managed it as it is our own production. We also did night shoots. For the promo song we spent 7 days. Budget went little bit out of hands but it was ok as we didnot compromise on quality. 15 % increased due to covid pandemic. We managed marketing and we are getting good offers for OTT and digital streaming rights. Promotions were handled professionally by various groups and we thank Cinejosh for taking the film to the people. We see Cinejosh promoting our film content and make it trending globally.

✴️ Tell us more about the director.?

- Chinna Papisetty was an associate director and worked for short films before going to Veera Shankar. He got the experience and when we roped in, he took another story and worked on it be it script wise or dialogue wise and insisted the writers to come up with them in the way he wanted it to be. Rajiv and Ravi worked on the dialogues, He is not only efficient director but also efficient producer and is the vital cog for the movie. He handled tough situations deftly.

✴️ How do you invite movie lovers to the theatres for Narayana & Co.?

- We are offering simple middle class filmto which they can relate to and which they haven't seen in the recent past. Family and children are not getting films to watch. Now a days families are unable to watch film even on OTTs. We are offering complete entertainer to all sections. Apart from it, it has a crime comedy element which increases the interest. As women characters are there people will love it, especially the role played by Pooja Kiran who played  my Maradalu role. It is an undercurrent entertainer.

✴️ How would you analyse your journey as you did character, lead roles, turned singer and also now producer.?

- I am happy that coming from a middle class family, I gained such recognition. Still I feel that I haven't explored my talent to the optimum.

✴️ Had you got another hit after Life is Beautiful, you would have reached new heights, did you regret any misses.?

- No I didnot miss any thing. In fact few films  and roles missed me. The role I rejected didnot workout for others.

✴️ Did you aspire to do any particular film.?

- Emotional films like Journey or entertaining film like Bhale Bhale Magadivoy.I have chosen few such roles but for some reason the projects didnot take off.

✴️ What your friends and relatives suggest.?

- They ask me to do middle class roles. But I want to prove that I can do all kind of roles. I listened to them and missed few roles.

✴️ Wiill you continue the same as a producer.?

- I will do small films. I am not after money as producer but to do some experiments. I did a short film in US where animation character will be there in place of a girl. It will be released in five languages soon. Title is Memory and am excited about it.

✴️ What is your next project apart from GD.?

- I am doing a project that is a love story with US backdrop in the 1980s and has a rural backdrop which is unique.

✴️ Don't you think it is tough.?

- We know that it is tough. But since I stayed there, I know how to use the resources there. Mickey J Meyer tuned the music and NRI Amar is directing it. We thought of the title Paramapada Sopanam but someone has already registered it.

✴️ What about another projects.?

- There is a film which is emotional like Jersey and also Suriya's Akasame Nee Haddura. The film is titled Charlie Chaplin and we have already registered it. In this film I will be in the getup of Charlie Chaplin for 30-40 minutes. Celebs like Chiranjeevi, Kamal Haasan, Balasubramaniam did and I am doing it now. I have done the test shoot in Charlie Chaplin getup and will soon reveal it.

✴️ Don't you have any thoughts of OTT.?

- I have but I am not getting protagonist characters that are strong enough. I am ready if I get good roles.

✴️ What else...

- I am happy with my film profession and wherever I am ,even if I am in US, I am thinking of films only. Will explore new subjects and topics.

✴️ How did you commit the date..?

- We thought we don't want to clash with Samajavaragamana and other feel good entertainers. We first finalised the date and later Samajavaragamana released. We have proceeded as there is nothing more to do. We felt Spy is different genre film.!

Cinejosh wishes Sudhakar Komakula an exceptional hit with Narayana & Co.