Lawrence-Lakshmi Rai starrer ‘Kanchana’ directed by Lawrence and produced by Bellamkonda Suresh was released on Friday. The success meet was organised at Cinemax today (July 16th) in which Bellamkonda Suresh, Lawrence, Lakshmi Rai and Sreeman participated.
Bellamkonda Suresh said, “Kanchana has brought good name to our banner. I consider myself lucky for having done this film. The film is pulling more of woman audience to theaters due to thrill and sentiment elements in the film. The censor board members have certified ‘UA’ to the film even though it is a horror film because they intend to encourage family and children also to watch this film. Kovai Sarala’s role in this film is on par with her role in ‘Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi’. Likewise Sreeman’s role and the role of his wife played by Daivadarshini also provided good entertainment. The collections are increasing day by day. Thaman’s music is an asset. Sashank Vennelakanti penned very good lyrics for the climax song. The handicapped students from Lawrence’s handicapped institute in Chennai performed in the first song. A appreciate Lawrence for his efforts to do good to the society. This is a bilingual film simultaneously made in Telugu and Tamil languages. But the Tamil producer requested me to release the film in Telugu first only because he was confident about the film’s success. I thank him and Lawrence for giving me this opportunity. The Telugu audience proved once again that they will never fail to watch good films.”
Lawrence said, “There is tremendous response for ‘Kanchana’ in Telugu. The audience is attracted to all elements in this film. Kovai Sarala’s role is very entertaining. I was inspired by a real life incident where a hijra by name Chandra use to worship cinema. He adopted a boy and provided him education. Based on this I prepared the script for the film. Although Sarath Kumar did not show much interest to do the hijra role initially, later when he heard the story he couldn’t stop his tears rolling down his cheeks. When Sarath Kumar appeared in the hijra get-up on the sets the light boy mistook him as a real hijra and tried to drove him away from the sets. However he realized only after Sarath Kumar’s assistant told who he was. We wanted a star like Sarath Kumar to do that role because only then the role will be unique on the screen. Thaman provided very good music and his music has helped the film a lot. The song in trailer is very powerful. Hijras were also very thrilled when they learned that the film showcased about them.”
He further added, “The Tamil producer is pretty confident after seeing the response in Telugu. If it is only horror the audience might get bored at a certain stage, hence we included comedy and balanced the film accordingly. My mother opined that ‘Kanchana’ is the best among all the films I directed so far. There is no scope for heroine in this film. The girl who did as hijra is a real hijra. Through this film I understood how difficult it is for women to carry themselves in sarees. To portray a woman character is very difficult. ‘Muni 3’ will be a different film with lots of comedy. We are planning to launch the film shortly.”
In the words of Lakshmi Rai, “I played a simple, bubbly and glamour role. The script has impressed me a lot. I love doing variety films. ‘Kanchana’ is one such film which vary in many ways. It doesn’t belong to one genre. It is a mix of comedy, horror and glamour. This is my third film with Lawrence. I enjoyed working for this film. All songs were well picturised. I’m very happy for being part of a good film. My outfits are different in the song that comes in the 2nd half. My character deals with only the romantic track. I’ll not appear in horror scenes. Initially they planned to cast Anushka as heroine. But later when Lawrence called me I agreed to do this role because I already worked with him in 2 films before. This is a typical entertainer with horror touch. The first half of the film is full of comedy and the second half deals with horror. I heard about ghosts but never saw one anytime. I believe in God. I’m very happy to see the response from Telugu audience. I’m confident that even Tamil audience will like this film. My first film ‘Kanchanamala’ is different from ‘Kanchana’. Since I was busy in Tamil and Malayalam I took a long gap in Telugu.”
Speaking further she said, “Right now I’m doing a very good role in Balakrishna’s film. My role in that film is very bubbly, childish as well as intelligent girl. I have very good scope to exhibit my performance. Balakrishna is playing 3 different characters in this film. I’m very happy to say that I’m playing the leading lady opposite all three characters being played by Balakrishna.”
