Family bonds ‘Maa Naana Chiranjeevi’

True to its title, Laughing Lord Entertainments has come up with a hilarious film on family bonding, Maa Naana Chiranjeevi (MNC) directed by P.A. Arun Prasad with Jagapathi Babu, Neelima and Master Athulith in the lead. It has a sub title, Antay Pedda Hero.
“For every child his father is a role model and a big hero, Megastar Chiranjeevi symbolises that big hero. Hence the title and the sub title,” explains Arun Prasad as we enter the state-of-the-art dubbing theatre in Prasad Labs. The unit helmed by producer Jayasree has completed the shooting part and MNC is now in its post-production work.

Arun Prasad, the perfectionist who takes interest in every aspect of filmmaking, sits besides the engineer at the console to monitor the dubbing work. A couple of professional dubbing artistes are at the mike to lend voice to some minor characters. Jagapathi Babu is shooting in night shifts these days and is to join the dubbing session in the afternoon according to the director.
As the scenes are flashed on the monitor, the plot unravels. The theme runs on family relationships, between spouses and father-son bonding. The story moves forward with other characters like M.S. Narayana, Telangana Sakunthala, Ali, Jayaprakash Reddy, Jhansi and Brahmanandam entering midway through to provide wholesome entertainment.
For Jagapathi Babu it is a refreshing change from the action and emotion filled characters he usually plays. He is back to soft family themes. Master Athulith of Tulasi plays his son.
“The entire film is set in light banter. There are emotional scenes but they are under played without an iota of melodrama,” explains the director. The hero had said at an earlier interaction that the film is in the genre of Subhalagnam and Neelima, (granddaughter of veteran producer-director V. Madhusudana Rao) reminds one of Aamani from the super hit film.
In these days of recession, Arun Prasad has wound up shooting two films (Yagam being the other film) at one go. “We were doing it earlier. It is possible if we can stick to the 7a.m. to 6p.m. call sheets instead of the 11a.m. to 5p.m. shooting hours. If I shoot like that even I can take 100 call sheets to make a film. But I am not trained in such a way. I had complete cooperation of my actors and the unit. Jagapathi Babu is always on the sets at 6.30a.m. for a 7a.m. call sheet.”
Hemachandra who debuted as a music director with the hit, Ride, composed the tunes for MNC too. The songs were shot in Bangkok. “There is only one interval in the film as we have kept only two songs that were captivatingly shot by cinematographer Bharani K. Dharan,” says the director with a smile. The USP of the movie is that every family member can identify with the lead characters, he adds signing off. MNC is expected to hit the screens in August. (THE HINDU)