Anil Ravipudi shares how he toyed with the idea of ‘F2’ sequel

Hyderabad: Telugu filmmaker Anil Ravipudi has a special connection with Sankranti festival as he got a career break of his lifetime with his romantic comedy ‘F2: Fun and Frustration’ in 2019. And the following year, Mahesh Babu-starrer ‘Sarileru Neekevaru’ released on Sankranti and went on to make records.   Now, Anil isn’t pleased with the way […]

Hyderabad: Telugu filmmaker Anil Ravipudi has a special connection with Sankranti festival as he got a career break of his lifetime with his romantic comedy ‘F2: Fun and Frustration’ in 2019. And the following year, Mahesh Babu-starrer ‘Sarileru Neekevaru’ released on Sankranti and went on to make records.  

Now, Anil isn’t pleased with the way things went astray due to Covid-induced lockdown and his movie ‘F3’ delayed inordinately. “It would’ve been a hat-trick, if ‘F3’ was released on Sankranti this year. Some things are not in our control,” he smiles. 

Anil celebrates his sixth birthday after becoming a director in the film industry, as he says, every step he climbed so far since the days he began his career as a dialogue writer gave him excitement and satisfaction. “It’s been a learning process, however, I’ve a lot more distance to cover as a filmmaker,” he says, adding, he wants to have a low-key bash as he will be on the ‘F3’ sets on Tuesday.” 

Aiming a solo release 

Anil wants to move ‘F3’ out of the Sankranti race. Rather than releasing it with big films, the director wants the movie to go solo at the box office. “We all want to get back to normal, out of the pandemic. So, to forget all this chaos, I am coming with a pill called ‘F3’. It would be a notch higher than what audiences got in the previous film,” says the director. 

‘F3’ isn’t a continuity to the prequel though. Earlier, it was the frustration between the couple that was portrayed in the film. The story of the upcoming flick revolves around money, though! Anil admits that he was apprehensive because of audiences’ expectations on the comedy franchise.  

“At the end of film ‘F2’ we put up a logo ‘F3’ without even having a ready script on hand. It was just an idea to bring a franchise but nothing existed. Soon after ‘Sarileru Neekevaru’, I had the desire to work on a comedy flick. Once we started working on the script, we began to feel that we were giving more than what we dished out in the previous one,” he adds. 

Breaking the mould 

Anil, who rendered the screenplay for ‘Aagadu’, earned a name for the mannerism and punch lines in ‘F2’. Now, breaking the regular mould of comedy, he minimised the dialogues and replaced them with situational comedy. “We all know how the dialogue ‘Anthe ga.. Anthe ga’ was a hit. I felt it makes audiences feel bored if I repeat it. And thus, we played up situational comedy where characters are identified with their activity or mannerism rather than with their dialogues. I should say actors Venkatesh Daggubati and Varun Tej are all pumped up with the previous collaboration; thus it manifested well,” he adds. 

The film wrapped up 80 per cent of the shoot and the talkie part is expected to complete by December last week. The movie is likely to be released in February next year. 

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