‘If we wanted the Himalayas as a backdrop, we didn’t shoot it on a green screen.’
‘We actually went to the Himalayas and shot on location.’
“We were able to achieve that kind of output in limited resources. Only because of the director’s experience as a cinematographer. And also definitely the actor, mine, commitment,” Teja Sajja, the star of Mirai, reveals what went on behind the making of the blockbuster in a chat with Subhash K Jha.
Did you ever expect Mirai to be so huge?
Everybody around me used to warn me. They kept telling me, why are you doing this film? Why are you working with newcomers after your previous film (HanMan), you have a huge blockbuster. You can work with anyone. You can try to talk to anyone from any industry. Why do you do this?
You had faith in Mirai‘s team?
I knew Karthik Gattamneni, the director of the film, is immensely talented. Immensely talented. I’ve known him for 10, 12 years.
And I had a gut feeling that both of us together can create something. Because I’m a very patient actor.
And I’m someone who supports the director as much as they want. So I was always confident that we can deliver something great if we both collaborate.
And you have delivered. Because apparently the budget was nothing more than Rs 30 crores. Is that correct?
No, sir. We are double of what you have mentioned. Okay.
Okay. 60 crores. But still, it looks like a 150-200 crore movie.
Sir, the whole thing is we were able to achieve that kind of output in limited resources, if I may say so. Only because of the director’s experience as a cinematographer, sir. And also definitely the actor, mine, commitment.
If we wanted the Himalayas as a backdrop, we didn’t shoot it on a green screen. We actually went to the Himalayas and shot on location.
Oh, you did? I didn’t know that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. That train sequence, the whole train sequence looked so natural because that was an original train. It was a real bridge. And we were shooting on the train. And every sequence that you have watched in the film is actually original.
So no green screen for you?
Nothing, nothing. Only green screen portion is the interval block where we had to create a mammoth bird and that we cannot get on location, no?
Apart from that, the whole film is actually in real locations. And even the sets that you have seen, Machu Manoj’s fight sequences, the first couple of action scenes in the first half, all those sets are actually on location.
We wanted a place which looked like Morocco. So we worked on making it look like Morocco, although we couldn’t afford to actually go there. A very funny thing, I didn’t tell this anywhere else. As we are talking, Sir. I am reminded of it.
Tell me.
When the director Karthik told me I am going to create a portal and from portal we can monitor the Kumbh Mela, show people dying there. So imagine what I would have thought when he was telling me.
So if a director comes to you and tells, this fellow is in Cambodia, creating a portal, and in India, from that portal, he is killing people. If somebody tells you this, how unbelievable is it?
Were you in disbelief when you heard this?
I had my own doubts in my head, Sir. But I never mentioned my doubts to the director.
When you are trying to achieve something so out of the box, there will be be invalidity. Yeah. And also, he was telling me about the black powder, that if a villain throws a black powder ghost and all. I was a bit apprehensive. I have never told him. But the good part is I never told him.
You never shared your misgivings with him because you didn’t want him to lose his confidence?
Yes. Yes. About the story, every day we used to talk, every day there used to be confrontations or about the graph of the characters or what we have to do, where we have to introduce what. All those things would be discussed.
I kept quiet because one thing I believe is Karthik has a great sensibility. He is a great filmmaker.
And was that the real Kumbh Mela?
You are asking about the big secret, sir. That’s the real Kumbh Mela.