Sampath Nandi overwhelmed with viewers’ response
'Seetimaarr' clocked record openings in Gopichand's career, says the director
Updated On - 11 September 2021, 06:57 PM
The rural sport Kabbadi provided a sense of identity to people in the country. And the new release at the box office, Gopichand-starrer ‘Seetimaarr’ is more than what an average Telugu filmgoer could expect, says director Sampath Nandi.
“The response from audiences is so overwhelming. Besides running in various centres in Telugu States, ‘Seetimaarr’ has been releasd in north India and a few screens in Chennai. The film is one of the biggest openings across India. We aren’t sure about the numbers but the response is so far good,” shares the director.
Elaborating on the script, he adds, “To fit the stature of a hero like Gopichand, we wanted the film to have commercial elements rather than approaching it sincerely as a story. It has action and romantic track — which can appease the hunger of Telugu mass audience. On the other hand, we also discussed women empowerment, and how the film serves the purpose. When we sat to discuss these subjects, our makers instantly connected to the emotional track. The winning shot of Preeti Asrani in the climax — is one of the defining moments of ‘Seetimaarr’s success,” says the director.
Post the mixed talk on ‘Gautam Nanda’, an action drama written and directed by Samapath himself, the director had plans to come up with a revenge drama. “A drama with rural backdrop would perfectly fit the bill. So, I immediately thought I should write a story based on rural sport Kabbadi, which is India’s biggest mass sport played by the majority of sections. The action blocks, emotional track and the dialogues have come in for praise,” says the director.
“I heard someone say that it has the best lines after the movie ‘Bengal Tiger’. And ‘Seetimaarr’ couldn’t be a better film in Gopichand’s career in the last 10 years — it opened with massive collections on the very first day,” says Sampath, adding that he has a nerve-wracking experience in editing the climax sequence, which had consumed 20 days.
The climax scene wouldn’t have come out so well if it wasn’t for the lockdown. Director Samapth says he had used the lockdown properly to design each and every shot at leisure. “Since Gopichand’s personality and emotions are intense, I felt that the low-angle shots and the weapon he carries should be different,” he says.
Adding that the OTT platform is a great avenue for filmmakers, the director says the nature of the content has to be different from what I do in movies. “People won’t like slow-paced massy shots on OTT screen. I wrote scripts like ‘Black Rose’ and ‘Odela Railway Station’, along with a few other film scripts during the lockdown last year, which I feel are adequate for the next 10 years to experiment with,” he concludes.
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