Sampath Nandi S fifth film Seeti Maarr is scheduled to hit the screens on the third of September. He has associated with Gopichand for the second time, the first being Gautham Nanda. Gopichand has been facing a turbulent time at the box office, none of his films in the past years fetched profits for the producers or distributors and Y.Sunita Chowdhary of Klapboardpost.com asks director Sampath Nandi as to what had driven him to pick the same actor again for his next film. Sampath Nandi says, “I believe in the story strongly. I had a comfort level working with him in the last film. I needed a Kabaddi coach who belonged to Gopichand’s age group. I couldn’t have gone to a young hero for this particular role. It is a mass game. There are commercial crime elements in it and I needed to blend it and only he as Karthee could have pulled it off. He should look like a coach as well as an ordinary man who can react to volatile situations. This film has nothing to do with other sports movies. It is not a complete sports movie but sport is a major plot. There is a subplot. I come from a village and the sport I played was Kabbaddi. I always wanted to make a sports movie with a female Kabaddi team. I found an idea from the newspapers and I developed it. There is a cause for which the game is played. There is a reason as to why they play. If they win, something is bound to happen to them.”
Director Sampath met the Telangana Kabaddi coach and players. He recalls that in his younger days, he played with no knowledge of rules and regulations. Now he has roped in five girls who are national champions. He further says, “They are struggling to get employment and feel they are not given their due like the others from different sports. They have a feeling of being underrated. I want to tell the world about what is in their heart and mind. I will do an interview shortly. The girls are very strong, physically and mentally. I am in awe of their power. Telangana coach is Tamanna and ‘Jwala Reddy’ and Andhra coach is Gopichand. The conflict between the two teams takes the plot forward. We trained new girls and they went on to learn the sport for three months; they would be at the stadium by 6 am every day. We auditioned 700 girls.”
Is he showing any fracas that happens between Telangana and Andhra players? He shares, “No, it appears like that initially but they come out unitedly playing for the cup. Twenty states participate every year and these two states are part of it. For any sport, we express our excitement with a whistle..that is seetimar. About Rao Ramesh, he gets to do a unique role but not a lengthy one. He uses medical terminology in every sentence, as village leader. Every day when you use BP and sugar testers and meet doctors regularly, we get to use medical terms easily. It has become a part of the colloquial language. Rao Ramesh uses these terms to express his happiness and anger too. He is a catalyst in hiking the conflict. Kabaddi court lo adithey aata, bayata aadithey veta is the line that sums up the story. Here the hero plays Kabaddi outside the arena. We have overcome all challenges and got it to the theatres. We have been holding the story for two years and the reason is the strong emotion in it. Tamanna spoke Telangana dialect in the film. Music is by Mani Sarma and he has done good work with four numbers. The promos have helped the film get the hype and importance. Yanam was the place of shoot mostly and we had moved to the Kaabbadi stadium in Delhi. Digangana plays a second role.” When will Sampath Nandi do a youth centric film like Yemaindi Ee Vela? ‘Very soon’, he signs off.
