‘Uu…Kodathara? Ulikki Padathara?’ is an entire family affair with Manchu Manoj in important roles like actor, stunt master, producer and Manchu Lakshmi in producer’s role as well as actor and finally Mohan Babu being the presenter, the entire fortune as well as hard work has been invested in this movie along with the charisma of Nandamuri Balakrishna. So there will be a good expectation from the public for a reasonably good work. This might further get enhanced by the fact that Manoj always thinks of something innovative in each attempt, right!!
This Manchu Manoj’s dream project written and directed by Sekhar Raja is finally hitting the silver
screen on July 27th in Telugu and Tamil. The Tamil version is titled ‘Varuvan Thalaivan’. The film stars Nandamuri Balakrishna (in pivotal role), Manchu Manoj, Deeksha Seth, Lakshmi Manchu (in key role), Prabhu and Sonu Sood in central roles. It’s the official debut of Sekhar Raja as a director. The siblings Lakshmi Manchu and Manoj launched a new production banner called ‘Manchu Entertainments’ and produced this bilingual socio-fantasy film with Padmasri Dr Mohan Babu as presenter. The film was launched with Mohan Babu’s initial budget approval of Rs 11 crores skyrocketed to Rs 22 crores and above by the time the film reaches the theaters.
The trailers of UKUP indicate that the film was shot using latest technology which is far superior to the current 24 frames standard one has seen in Tollywood. At its peak, the Graphics involved the efforts of 380 technicians for animation and digital designing work. The soundtrack for UKUP features five songs composed by Bobo Shashi (which is his 2nd film with Manchu Manoj after ‘Bindaas’) and one song ‘Anuragame Haaratulaye’ by the popular music director Vidya Sagar. The visuals of each song are said to be the feast to eyes. Cinematographer B Rajasekhar captured all songs in beautiful locations in Kerala. Salim-Sulaiman provided the background score.
When it comes to filming, a huge 'Gandharva Mahal' set costing Rs 6.50 crores was erected in Ramoji Film City where the major part of film was shot. The stills released on the internet tell how beautiful and rich ‘Gandharva Mahal’ was designed and constructed by the art director Bhupesh R Bhupathi. While this costly set raised many eyebrows, producer Lakshmi Manchu says that this set is very important to the film as it depicts the intimate relationship between the Raja Mahal and the characters. Shooting also took place in Kerala and Bangkok.
When it comes to Action Part, Manoj himself supervised the entire action sequences. Though being a junior, he made senior actors like Balakrishna and Sonu Sood perform the stunts the way he wanted. Not stopping with that Manoj also performed some risky fights with bare body for 22 hours nonstop even without drinking a glass of water. During shooting of one of the action scenes he also injured nose, though he escaped with minor cuts. According to him, Balakrishna and he will appear in multiple getups. The action sequences involving the duo would be one of the main highlights. Interestingly, Lakshmi Manchu also did some real stunts in the film. She will be seen in a key role.
The Surprise Package of UKUP would be Manchu Manoj appearing in negative shade role which is for the first time in his career.
On the other hand, Mohan Babu was all praise for Balakrishna enacting the pivotal role in the film. Lakshmi too praised Balakrishna in regard to his performance and said that his character would get high voltage response from the audience, similar to Mohan Babu’s in ‘Pedarayudu’. On the whole, the makers call UKUP as feel good entertainer blend with family drama and action elements.
Manoj claimed that the movie has come out bigger than his dream and the trailers are receiving tremendous response from the movie buffs. After an advance screening of the film in Chennai, the distributors appeared very excited with the film’s output, and their positive reports pleased Lakshmi and Manoj so much that they are now planning to increase the number of prints as well as theaters. So, what does that all mean to fans? You’re more excited to watch ‘Uu…Kodathara? Ulikki Padathara?’ than ever, aren’t you?
