I spent Rs 21 crore on Kamche: Krish Jagarlamudi

After his debut in Hindi with Gabbar Is Back, Tollywood director Krish Jagarlamudi has gone on to a completely different zone with his new Telugu film, Kanche. Here are excerpts from an interview:

Q. Kanche looks like an authentic war epic, like the ones we see in the films of J.P. Dutta…
We shot the war scenes over 35 days in Georgia with real ammunition, which was used in World War II. And ironically, this is the month when WWII ended, on September 2, 1945.

Q. What was your budget for the film?
It cost quite a lot. We spent Rs 21 crore on this film. Quite a staggering budget for a Telugu film. But we couldn’t cut corners. We either made the film on the budget required, or not. It’s set in 1940s during World War II. It’s a micro and macro analysis of fences between nations all over the world, at the same time between the people and their hearts when in the same nation.

Q. How do you think Baahubali has influenced Telugu cinema and its filmmakers?
It has opened huge doors, not only for my film, but for all period/costume films. Rajamouli told us it was okay to imagine big and do massive films. The courage of filmmakers has increased by leaps and bounds. Because of Rajamouli we’ve all become more daring and ambitious.

Q. Rajamouli has praised the trailer of Kanche. Your reactions?
I was very excited. He told me that he can understand the vast amount of research and hard work put in this film.

This is the story I wanted to tell for a long time. I’m very excited to finally be able to tell my story about a passionate love affair that grows during war. This film was written long back. I plunged into this film as soon as Gabbar Is Back was released.

Q. Why did you choose Varun Tej and Pragya Jaiswal for the lead?
Varun is a handsome, well-built man who has a certain innocence about him. I really love his eyes.

He fits the bill as a soldier and at the same time he shows the much-required chirpiness of a college student which I needed, according to the script.

Q. And Pragya?
We needed a perfect beauty with a strong character who looked like a princess. We did many auditions of several girls and finally met Pragya and she nailed it.