Uppena fame Panja Vaisshnav Tej and Rakul Preet Singh's Konda Polam is all set to hit the silver screens on October 8, 2021. Krish Jagarlamudi, who has made several critically acclaimed films, has directed Konda Polam, an adaptation of a Telugu novel by the same name written by Sannapureddy Venkatram Reddy.
In the film, Vaisshnav Tej, who is also veteran actor Chiranjeevi's nephew, and Rakul, play people from the shepherding community in Telangana. The trailer of the film, which was released recently, has garnered over nine million views on YouTube within a week. TNM caught up with Krish Jagarlamudi to find out more about Konda Polam, his casting choices and his upcoming film with Pawan Kalyan.
Krish says that Konda Polam is all about the adventurous and often risky journey that people from the shepherding community undertake for their livelihood during famines. Narrating the plotline, Krish says, “During famines, many people from the shepherding community go to forest areas along with their sheep for their livelihood. This process is called Konda Polam. This is not a picnic but an adventurous journey for them. They may come into conflict with tigers, encounter thieves who try to steal the sheep...but they have to stay in the forest till the time they can go back to their village. We will be showcasing this adventurous journey very clearly in this film.”
The film has been adapted from Telugu novel Konda Polam, written by Sannapureddy Venkat Ram Reddy, and the story has gone through some changes suitable for the screenplay. For the movie, the same writer has rewritten the story in accordance with inputs from the director.
“Book and cinema are two different media and have different requirements. It's too complex to translate what is there in the book to the screen. The book contains so many characters and many plot twists, but in the movie, it's not possible to show everything on screen in a short duration. So, we had to remove some characters and add a few others with the help of the same writer,” says Krish.
Notably, the character of Obulamma, which is being played by Rakul Preet Singh, is not there in the book but was created for the movie. “We have incorporated a beautiful love story between Ravindra (Vaisshnav Tej) and Obulamma. In fact, the love story is fantastic,” says Krish.
Talking about casting Vaisshnav Tej and Rakul for the movie, the director says, “When I was thinking about Konda Polam, the songs of Uppena were being released. I thought Vaisshnav Tej would be apt to play this character and approached him to play Ravindra. He soon came on board. As for Rakul, she is an experienced actor and I thought she would deliver the Obulamma character well. She has done so.”
In the trailer, it can be seen that Vaisshnav Tej will be sporting two different looks in the film, one as a shepherd and another as a more sophisticated person. Commenting on Vaisshnav Tej’s character, Krish says, “Vaisshnav is playing the character of Kataru Ravindra Yadav, an educated person from the shepherding community. When Ravindra comes to his village, he is forced by circumstances to take the sheep into the forest. The same person, who came to the forest to take care of the sheep, will return as an Indian Forest Officer (IFS). This is why Vaisshnav Tej is shown in two different looks.”
The director, who is also busy with Pawan Kalyan's Hari Hara Veera Mallu, made Konda Polam in between the former film's shooting schedules. Konda Polam was shot in a span of about 45 days in the Ananthagiri hills of Vikarabad district in Telangana. “For about one-and-a-half months, we worked for at least 12 hours every day to finish the shoot. We then went in for post production work,” he says.
Revealing information about the big budget Hari Hara Veera Mallu, Krish says that the team has completed about 40% of the shoot and is gearing up for the next schedule which is expected to begin in the second week of November. The film is expected to be released in April 2022.
Krish is known for his previous films such as NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu, Gautamiputra Satakarni, Kanche, and Vedam among others.
Watch trailer video of Konda Polam here: