A for Anand director MG Srinivas: Making an entertaining children’s film with Shivarajkumar is a challenge

It was during the shoot of Shivarajkumar’s Ghost that his wife and producer Geetha Shivarajkumar told director MG Srinivas about an idea she thought fit for a film, which he was expecting to be for another massy commercial entertainer, considering that she’d backed Vedha and had announced Bhairathi Ranagal at the time. But when she told him her idea, Srini, as the Topiwala filmmaker is known, was taken aback momentarily. Geetha wanted to make a children’s film, which would star Shivarajkumar in the lead, and tell society a very pertinent message about education, without being preachy. That, Srini, thought was a big challenge, but one that he decided to have a crack at when both Shivarajkumar and Geetha insisted he work on it.

MG Srinivas: A for Anand needed a lot of research

Of course, Srini had base material to work on – Geetha was looking at adapting the Japanese bestselling novel, Totto Chan: The Little Girl At the Window. “But even then, I asked them for ample time to work on it, as it is a genre that I have not attempted before. For instance, with Srinivasa Kalyana and Old Monk, I’d done comedy and action heist thriller with Ghost, but a family entertainer with children and Shivarajkumar would be new for me. That is something that I would have to do a lot of research for, before going on floors,” said the filmmaker at the film’s – A for Anand - muhurtha.

One thing that Srini knew that could not get preachy with the subject. Yes, there would be socially-relevant message, but the challenge was in presenting this in the most gun and entertaining fashion, by capturing the natural naughtiness of children, among others. This also meant that cinematic style of dialogue writing would not work and the team had to work on writing lines that children would actually say in certain situations. A for Anand would have Shivarajkumar playing a teacher, which is only the second time since Drona , in his 130-odd film career. 

Also read: Shivarajkumar in guru mode again: Here are 4 other must-watch inspiring teacher roles on OTT 

A for Anand will begin rolling in late September or October, after Shivarajkumar finishes his commitments on the untitled 131st film, as well as Ram Charan’s Peddi, in which he has a pivotal role. Following A for Anand, Srini wants to get cracking on Dalavaayi, the spin-off of a character from Ghost, which was an unexpected addition to his proposed cinematic universe that would marry the Birbal stories with those of Ghost. In fact, before starting A for Anand, Srini is looking at winding up Birbal 2, which is part of a trilogy of stories, of which, only 1, Birbal: Finding Vajramuni, which was Rukmini Vasanth’s debut film, has come out.