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Hanuman director Prasanth Varma: The success of this will allow me to make another, producers might not give big budgets

Director of Hanuman, Prasanth Varma talks to us as the film runs successfully in theatres, surprising people.

Updated on: Jan 30, 2024, 16:15:56 IST
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Mounted on a budget of 40 crore, Prasanth Varma's superhero film Hanuman has minted 250 crore at the global box office. At a time when films with enormous budgets fall flat both in VFX and collections, the Telugu flick has surprised one and all.

Director Prasanth Varma has helmed Hanuman
Director Prasanth Varma has helmed Hanuman

"I knew it will be liked by the audience when we watched it before the release. But the box-office numbers is something we never expected or aimed at. This will help me make one more film," he says.

The National Award-winning filmmaker also directed the first-ever Telugu zombie horror film, Zombie Reddy (2021). Initially set to become a software engineer, he found his calling after directing a music video.

“That video did well, so my friend said, 'Let's do more'. That led to me making the short film A Silent Melody," says Varma.

Having made the most of a relatively small budget with Hanuman, does Varma see himself deliver even more spectacular stuff with a bigger purse? "After this film, people will not come to me with big budgets. They will say, 'Itne kam mein bana diya hai toh zyaada kyun?' [But] I will collaborate with people who believe in a big vision. I was down and out personally and professionally when I wanted to make Zombie Reddy. My producer then came to me and said, 'What do you want to make?' and I told him. He just said 'sounds fun, let's do it’. I was blessed to have people like these backing me," says Varma, who has already announced the sequel to HanuMan.

  • Rishabh Suri
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Rishabh Suri

    Rishabh Suri is an Assistant Editor, film critic, and professional overthinker of plot points. He writes for HT City, keeping pace with an industry where news cycles expire long before the popcorn gets cold. He completed his graduation in English Honours from Kirori Mal College, followed by a Master’s degree in English Literature-effectively training his brain to over-analyse classic texts before applying those exact same skills to 3-hour Bollywood blockbusters. He got into the profession when he had barely graduated from college and has been at HT ever since. At HT, Rishabh reviews films with a simple rule: skip the dense academic jargon and get straight to the point. Beyond reviews, as Assistant Editor, he helps navigate the broader circus of showbiz, tracking everything from OTT shifts to sudden box office panics. In a beat driven by loud PR machinery and carefully scripted answers, Rishabh prefers cutting through the noise to focus on how stories get made and why trends shift. When he isn’t writing against a deadline, he is usually sitting in a dark theater, compulsively memorising dialogues. For Rishabh, analysing movies isn't just a day job- it’s a habit he couldn't turn off even if he tried.Read More