Balagam director Venu Yeldandi to team up with Dil Raju again; project details inside

The beauty of cinema is that you can never foretell a film or a storyteller’s destiny - the magic lies in its unpredictability. Some are natural storytellers, some work towards their ambition. When comedian Venu Tillu (now Venu Yeldandi) announced his directorial debut, not many took him seriously but he’s surprised one and all with his capabilities in this week’s release Balagam.

Balagam, starring Priyadarshi, Kavya Kalyanram, was produced by Dil Raju’s nephew and daughter, Harshith and Hanshitha Reddy. The story revolved around how a patriarch’s death triggers a rivalry among his family members has resonated with audiences and critics. The makers have already recovered twice the film’s budget with the OTT deal and Dil Raju, himself, has claimed that the theatrical revenues are only a bonus.

In a chat with media today, Dil Raju said, “I hail from rural Telangana and am aware of traditions and customs in the region and I instantly connected with Venu’s story. I asked the director to not tinker with the script with any commercial ingredients. Though the film is set in Telangana, the story is universal and in fact, Andhra Pradesh distributors had great things to say about it.”

That’s not all, Venu Yeldandi is teaming up for another project with Dil Raju, the latter confirmed. “We’ve already signed Venu for another film under our banner. This time, it’ll be a proper commercial film with a popular leading man,” he stated. While talking about the various successes of his banner over the years, he labelled Bommarilu as his personal favourite.

Dil Raju also forayed into the Tamil market as a producer with Varisu, starring Vijay, Rashmika Mandanna, Srikanth, Shaam, Jayasudha, Prakash Raj and Sarathkumar in key roles. The film, directed by Vamshi Paidipally was dubbed into Telugu as Vaarasudu. Both the versions are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.