Mumbai, April 4 South actor Adivi Sesh said on Saturday that he had to postpone the release of his bilingual film “Dacoit” due to the massive theatrical success of Aditya Dhar’s “Dhurandhar: The Revenge”.
Sesh’s film was originally slated to compete with “Dhurandhar” on March 19, but the film’s team decided to move the release date to April 10.
“We were planning to release it on March 19, and the Telugu New Year, Ugadi, would be a good occasion for the South version, but we were not getting proper screen time because of Aditya Dhar’s phenomenal ‘Dhurandhar’,” Sesh said.
“Dhurandhar: The Revenge”, a spy thriller starring Ranveer Singh, has been a massive success at the global box office, earning over Rs 1,500 crore worldwide in just two weeks.
Comparing Dhar’s film to the Indian Premier League (IPL), Sesh said that some films transcend the box office to influence culture.
When asked if “Dhurandhar”, which is still playing in theaters, will affect his film, “Dacoit”, Sesh said that there is room for different kinds of films to coexist.
“I think ‘Dhurandhar’ will continue to run in theaters for another three to four months, and it should continue to run. It’s like IPL; these films are cultural phenomena. However, there is room for different kinds of cinema, and those who are not getting tickets for ‘Dhurandhar’ can come and watch our film, ‘Dacoit’,” Sesh said.
“Dacoit”, also starring Mrunal Thakur and filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap, is directed by Shaneil Deo, who is making his directorial debut and co-wrote the screenplay with Sesh.
The film tells the story of an angry convict seeking revenge on his ex-girlfriend who betrayed him. It will be released in Hindi and Telugu.
Sesh said that the idea behind releasing the film in Hindi was to break away from the trend of dubbing South language movies for Northern audiences, and instead bring authenticity by making it in both Hindi and Telugu.
“I watched the film ‘Padman’, and I was curious about the real-life story. I learned that it’s a Tamil story. I was wondering why we are not showing this Tamil story to a wide audience,” Sesh said, referring to Akshay Kumar's 2018 film about social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham.
“With our story, we decided, why not show the exciting and edgy things that happen on the Andhra-Karnataka border in our film, in Hindi, so that it can reach people in an authentic way,” he added.
To further bridge the language gap, the makers collaborated with Bhojpuri sensation Pawan Singh and singer Jonita Gandhi for the track "Touch Buddy".
“Dacoit”, which was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu, is produced by Supriya Yarlagadda and presented by Annapurna Studios. It is co-produced by Suniel Narang.