How Chiranjeevi transformed into Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy

Bringing the story of unsung freedom fighter,

Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy

, to the celluloid was an unfulfilled dream for Chiranjeevi for over two decades now. In fact, the Paruchuri Brothers began writing the story of Sye Raa back in 2006 itself. It took a over a decade, for the film to finally start rolling, last year. And from the looks of the now viral teaser of the period drama, it seems like the Megastar’s long cherished dream is poised for a grand fruition. Director Surender Reddy says the film is an ode to the man who led “India’s first civil rebellion against the British rule” back in 1846, eleven years before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, which is widely considered as ‘India’s first war of Independence’. “We have relied on works of writers like Aziz and several historians who have documented the life of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy. Though many may not know about the freedom fighter, we’re making it in such a way that it inspires Telugu people. The gazettes pertaining to his death sentence have been our primary inference; it comprised details about his histrionics, clothing and other minute aspects. We met his descendants, gathered details from his annual memorial gatherings too,” says Surender.

A lot of effort went into recreating the 1800s era. Apparently, zeroing in on the costumes itself took a good year-and-a-half. Chiru’s daughter, Sushmita

Konidela

, who is the costume designer for the film, elaborates, “It took us nearly eight months of research to understand the clothing of that era. Another six months went into the costume designing. we made sure the colours, the embroideries, textiles stayed true to that
period. No chemicals were used in the clothing back then, so the khadi was sourced from native weavers.”

While production designer, Rajeevan Nambiar, was given the responsibility of recreating Kurnool of early 1800s, dialogue writer Sai Madhav Burra had the arduous task of getting the Rayalaseema slang of the 1800s spot on. “Speaking to many historians and reading Telugu novels such as Palegadu and Renati Suryudu, set in that era aided us. It’s definitely difficult for today’s audience to grasp the slang of that era, so we’ve only used certain words true to that period, the rest has been creatively interpreted according to the script and to ensure dramatic highs,” explains Sai, signing off.