The journey of making 'Viduthalai Part-1' and its Telugu release as 'Vidudala Part-1': Director Vetri Maaran speaks out

During a press conference, director Vetri Maaran spoke about the Telugu release of his film 'Viduthalai Part-1', which has been titled 'Vidudala Part-1' in Telugu. He expressed his gratitude towards producer Allu Aravind for believing in the film's potential to appeal to audiences beyond regional boundaries, despite it being a film with strong ethnic roots. Vetri Maaran emphasized that choosing the right content to make more universal films is crucial in bridging cultural gaps and connecting with audiences globally.
He expressed his gratitude towards producer Allu Aravind.He said, ''I would like to express my gratitude to Allu Sir for believing in the success of this film across boundaries. Usually, my films are egocentric, especially Vidudala. While making this film, we initially thought it would have a very ethnic appeal. However, when he saw the film and responded positively to it, it proved that the more ethnic we go, the more room we have to connect with a larger audience.''
Speaking of the shooting days and budget, the director went on to say, ''When we choose content that has the potential to become more universal, it helps people connect with our ethnic and rooted content across borders and boundaries. I want to thank my producer for making this film possible and for having confidence in the way I make films. Believing in the content and the filmmaker is different, but believing in a filmmaker is a different matter entirely. When I first started this film, I told him that I wanted to make a small film with Soori, who had no previous experience, with a budget of four crores, and finish it in 35 days. However, the actual budget ended up being 18 times more than that, and we shot for more than 160 days for both parts.''
He added, ''For a producer to come or take off on this roller coaster ride with confidence in the filmmaker, I need to express my gratitude to him. I always thank him at every given opportunity. I would like to take this opportunity again to thank him for his support.''
He thanked all his cast and crew. ''I am grateful to all my actors, Gautham Vasudev Menon sir, Soori, Bhavani Sre, Vijay Sethupathi, and everyone, including my technicians and Ilaiyaraaja sir, who gave us beautiful melodies for this film. We were talking about that this morning, and the songs sound even better than Telugu. It sounds so enjoyable for us to listen to, even though we did not understand much of the lyrics. The background score was also impressive, and the effort put into it was remarkable. Shooting on a train was not easy, but all of us believed in something, and we took the journey together until we found the film,'' said Vetri Maaran.
Talking about how he approached Allu Aravind, He said, ''The idea of putting the film in Telugu was my producer's idea. I then reached out to Allu sir, and he agreed to watch the film before the release. He came to see the film and told us what had to be done. So, we made the necessary changes, and here we are.''
Hoping for the film’s success in Telugu, he concluded, ''I strongly believe that we can only make films, but for audiences to come and watch a film, it has to be spoken about. I hope you all support the film and spread the word so that people will come and watch it. Thank you very much.''