Varalaxmi shoots her next film on the same set used for its Telugu version

Varalaxmi and Santhosh Prathap have started shooting for Kondraal Paavam, directed by Dayal Padmanabhan, in Hyderabad. What’s interesting is that the team is shooting on the same set in which the film’s Telugu version, Anaganaga O Athidhi, was shot a couple of years ago.
Giving us details, Dayal, who has helmed the Telugu film as well, says, “We had erected a set in 2020 for the film at a studio in Hyderabad.The film is set in the 1980s and we had put up a house, among other props. Somehow, we didn’t break it down after completing the shoot. So, when I decided to start shooting the Tamil version, we chose to film it on the same set. Of course, we have modified it to suit the settings of a Tamil household and cinematographer Chezhiyan’s requirement.”
He adds with a smile, “In the interim, the set that we put up was used to shoot quite a few films, including Annaatthe.”
Dayal also informs us that he had initially planned to make the script — which he first directed in Sandalwood as the award-winning Aa Karaala Ratri — as a Tamil-Telugu bilingual. “I had approached Varalaxmi for both versions, but she was busy with other commitments and couldn’t take up the project. So, I went ahead and made it in Telugu with a different cast. I again got in touch with Varalaxmi in July this year to work out dates for the Tamil version,” he
reveals.
Kondraal Paavam is a crime thriller, the story of which takes place in a single night. “We have set the story in Dharmapuri, and it’s about how a 26-year-old unmarried girl gets caught in a crime web,” he says.
Ask him what made him want to direct the film, which he has already made in two other languages, in Tamil as well, and he says, “Tamil is my mother tongue, but I have made 18 films in Kannada and one in Telugu. I’ve always wanted to debut in Tamil and I wanted to get on board the film as a co-producer, if not the producer. Things fell in place only now and I’m happy the wait was worth it.”