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Allu Aravind confirms talks on with Suriya for director Chandoo Mondeti’s film

Jan 31, 2025 05:52 PM IST

Geetha Arts founder Allu Aravind discusses his upcoming film Thandel, featuring Naga Chaitanya, set for release on February 7.

He founded Geetha Arts in 1972 in Hyderabad and is one of the most successful producers in Telugu cinema today. Allu Aravind, father of Telugu star Allu Arjun, is a name that is synonymous with good content. His next production, Thandel, starring Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi is up for release on February 7. Made on a reported budget of 80 crore, Thandel is directed by Chandoo Mondeti and has music by Devi Sri Prasad. (Also read: Naga Chaitanya talks about life after marrying Sobhita Dhulipala; if they'll star in a film together)

Allu Aravind, father of Allu Arjun, during a press conference at his residence, in Hyderabad.(PTI)
Allu Aravind, father of Allu Arjun, during a press conference at his residence, in Hyderabad.(PTI)

Allu Aravind was in Chennai for the launch of the Tamil trailer of Thandel, a romantic action drama, and got chatting with Hindustan Times about the film and more. As to why he picked the story of Thandel that revolves around the fishermen from the village of Srikakulam, the ace producer replied, “I was looking for a real-life story for a while and when this subject was brought to me by a young man, I liked it. The story he had was more in the form of a documentary so we took that and director Chandoo Mondeti worked on it for a year making it into a love story against this backdrop.”

As for why he signed on Naga Chaitanya aka Chay for the lead role, the Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo producer said he had known the actor since he was a small child. “We felt he would be the perfect fit for this character. Naga Chaitanya’s performance in Thandel will melt our hearts. He has given a never-before-seen, career-best performance in the movie,” said Allu Aravind, who believes that this movie will turn out to be the highest-grossing film for the Premam star. Interestingly, Chay grew a beard especially for this character and the producer narrated a funny story around this. He narrated, “At his wedding, I went to bless him and Sobhita when she suddenly asked me if she could ask me something. I said sure and Sobhita asked me, ‘When will I be able to see my husband’s face properly?’ I told her ‘On February 8th’”.

Meanwhile, director Chandoo Mondeti stated that he would now only work with producer Allu Aravind and there are plans to do several movies together. The director has had several superhits, including his last film Karthikeya 2 in 2022. Karthikeya 2 won Best Telugu Feature Film at the 70th National Awards as well. He recently spoke about the fact that producer Allu Aravind had placed so much trust in him as a director that he has even offered him a 300 crore budget film with Suriya, Ram Charan or any other leading star.

Given that Allu Aravind has made many successful films in Telugu, was he not looking to produce Tamil films at any point soon? Allu Aravind replied, “Yes, I am. Suriya and I have been good friends for a long time and I’d like to work with him. In fact, director Chandoo Mondeti and I are in talks with him for a film but it’s in the early stages.” But the producer is very humble when you ask him what he looks for in a script as nearly all his films turn out to be hits. “I don’t know what X factor I have in me. Similarly, I don’t know the X factor which makes me choose or reject a script. But the films I pick to produce turn out to be successful and I have been lucky,” he said.

Produced by Geetha Arts, Thandel is set for a big release on February 7th in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. The movie has music by Devi Sri Prasad, editing by Naveen Nooli and cinematography by Shamdat Sainudeen.

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