Netflix's Menu Please series takes off in Telugu with Satyadev Kancharana

Netflix is stepping up the gas to reach out to its South Indian audience base aggressively, more than ever before. The digital streamer has now launched its popular YouTube-original series Menu Please in Telugu as well. Menu Please is an informal video series where a host and a popular film celebrity discuss cinema, food and several unknown, funny dimensions of their personal lives with audiences. The Telugu version of the series, hosted by Jahnavi Dasetty, popularly known as Mahathalli among Netizens, took off the previous week with an episode featuring actor Satyadev Kancharana.

Opening up on what struck a chord with him about Hyderabad the most, Satyadev shared, "I am based out of Vizag and shifted to Hyderabad to work for a company called Innopark. When it got a little too late in the night at work and I got to reach home at 1 am. I was surprised beyond belief that my manager came to my house, holding a packet of biryani for me and offered to eat it together. I wondered how it was possible to get food so late into the night. He told me that one could get hold of a biryani even at 3 or 4 am, provided one was hungry. That's Hyderabad for you."

Satyadev looked back at times where he visited Cafe Bahar and Paradise for a plate of biryani and returned with his tummy full and satisfied. He went to the extent of calling Hyderabad a synonym to 'biryani'. Over a plate of Mirchi bajji, Niloufer chai and Osmania biscuits, they moved on to talk about his recent releases on Netflix, Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya (the Telugu remake of Maheshinte Prathikaram) and Thimmarusu. He remembered how Venkatesh Maha, the director of Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya asked him not to watch the Malayalam original as he prepped up for the remake.

"I had watched the Malayalam film a long time ago at the time of release. Maha felt that comparisons between the original and the remake were inevitable. He wanted me to approach the film like a new script and get familiar with it, remove any traces of original from the mind if we were to do justice to the story. That's how you can create something fresh and it's exactly what happened in the case of the film," he added. Describing his transition from a supporting actor to a lead, Satyadev stated that he now respects the efforts of the team as much as his, during the making of a film. He opined it wasn't possible to deliver a successful film riding on his acting chops alone.

Moving onto Thimmarusu, Satyadev claimed that his biggest inspiration to get the lawyer-act right in the film was Chiranjeevi's courtroom drama Abhilasha and was blushing over the fact that Pawan Kalyan's name in Vakeel Saab was 'Satyadev' too. He particularly enjoyed doing a lengthy monologue in the film but was disappointed that it was filled with a series of montage shots in the final edit. He revealed that dal rice, potato fry and papad is his comfort meal at any given point. He enjoyed another round of dishes with items like Avakai Veg Pulav, Ragi Sangati and Bagara Baingan besides a couple of desserts. Jahnavi was as cheery and spirited as ever in the episode and helped Satyadev open up and feel at ease. 

This episode of Menu Please was directed by Sumedh Natu, produced by Sujay Kulkarni and edited by Balaji with the cinematography by Saiyam Wakchaure.

Read: Thimmarusu Review