A total Telugu treat!

Two urban youngsters on the quest for gold, a pizza delivery boy who wants to be a hero and two brothers from Bhimavaram with a prize pandem kodi (fighter rooster) ��� all their colourful stories come together on Sankranthi day in the upcoming Bangaaru Kodi Petta, directed by Raj Pippalla and produced by Sunitha Tati. Promising an all-Telugu cast, a spunky local flavour and a whole lot of madness, this is one film that is looking to break the mould in an industry filled with larger-than-life fantasies.
In fact, it���s the ���Teluguness��� of this movie that makes it so relatable, says Raj Pippalla, a new-age director, who cast only Telugu-speaking people in his movie. ���When you are making a Telugu film for a Telugu audience, I only deemed it right to stay as authentic as possible. I wanted to capture the regional flavours and mannerisms. That said, I wanted to take very real characters and put them in a surreal situation,��� he says, of this ���romantic crime thriller���.
Though Raj is an NRI techie from the US, whose love for cinema had him home-bound again, his childhood memories of his hometown, Bhimavaram, reflects in the film. ���For 17 years of my life, I spent my summers in Bhimavaram. In fact, the plot of the twin brothers in the village and the roosters was recreated from the sights, sounds and flavours of my childhood spent there,��� he says.
Playing the urban characters, Vamsi and Bhanumati Pinisetty ��� who are very Telugu at heart ��� are Navdeep and Swathi. Navdeep, says, ���Though I can speak and read Telugu fluently, not many know I���m a local boy! I���m known for my urban roles. In this movie however, the situations and dialogues are very local, casual and conversational. I play a typical Hyderabadi tapori, who speaks Telugu with a Telangana and Urdu twang.���
To stay true to the essence of the film, the actors dubbed for themselves. Sunitha Tati, the producer, says, ���The plot captures in a real manner, the transformation that the current generation is going through. We wanted the actors to dub for themselves to retain the freshness and authenticity of the emotions.���
Swathi is quick to add, ���In fact, when we were dubbing, Raj kept insisting I redo the lines where my Telugu sounded too anglicised! I enjoyed playing this character, who is a regular girl, who may wear clothes from Mango, but is very Telugu at heart... like any other girl we know. Unlike in other ���urban��� movies we see, she doesn���t speak with an accent just because she is from the city.���
And what about the significance of Sankranthi in the movie? Raj says, ���Sankranthi is the most quintessential Telugu festival and was the perfect backdrop for our film. The festival is the undercurrent running through all of the stories that come together on the day of the festival.��� Bangaru Kodi Petta, produced by Guru Films, is complete now and the movie unit is all set for the audio launch. Raj adds, ���The music has an ethnic funk feel to it and recreates rural zest with global sounds.���