Pawan Kalyan on ‘Hari Hara Veera Mallu’: I have not abandoned my film

On Monday morning, when Pawan Kalyan took to the stage to address the media in Hyderabad, he wasn’t speaking in his capacity of Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, but as an actor. “If I have refrained from promoting my films all these years, it is not out of arrogance. I find it awkward to talk about the work that has gone into a film and market it. I have always believed that if a film is good, there is no need to promote it. And any promotion cannot not help a bad film,” he stated. His new Telugu film, Hari Hara Veera Mallu: Part 1 – Sword vs Spirit, will be released in multiple languages on July 24.

Pawan Kalyan began by stating that he has addressed the media on several occasions to discuss societal issues and politics but cannot recall the last time he held a press conference for a film. He made an exception to stand by his producer, AM Rathnam, as the film had faced several challenges during its making for five years. The film’s release went through postponements multiple times. Over the weekend, there were reports of complaints being filed with the Film Chamber of Commerce pertaining to the producer’s non-clearance of dues for two of his earlier films.

The actor stated that in the early days of his career, he had aspired to work in a film produced by Rathnam, who has delivered blockbuster hits in Telugu and Tamil since the 1990s such as Kartavyam, Indian (Bharateeyudu), among several others.

Pawan Kalyan’s first collaboration with Rathnam was the 2001 hit, Kushi. “He gave me the creative freedom to work on the stunt choreography during the pre-production of Kushi. Rathnam does not retaliate even if others speak to him harshly. I felt the need to support him when he is facing trouble. He began his career as a makeup assistant and grew step by step in cinema,” the actor recalled.

Hari Hara Veera Mallu is a period action entertainer set during the time when Aurangzeb reigned over Golconda Sultanate. “Director Krish Jagarlamudi approached us with a high-concept story that we all liked. The film faced delays during the pandemic and later I got busy with my political career. Though Krish stepped back due to varied reasons, Rathnam and Jyothi Krishna, who took up the task of direction, were relentless and ensured that the film was completed,” said Pawan Kalyan.

The actor highlighted the high action climax episode that was filmed in scorching summer over 57 days. The team, he added, wondered if the span of the story would fit into one film. Eventually, Hari Hara Veera Mallu became a two-part film with the 20-minute climax sequence of the first part acting as a segue to the second part. “All the martial arts training I had done years ago came in handy,” he added.

Pawan Kalyan applauded Bobby Deol as the perfect choice to portray Aurangzeb and also lavished praise on Nidhhi Agerwal, the female lead, for singlehandedly taking up the task of promoting the film. He also appreciated the support of composer MM Keeravani, director of photography Manoj Paramahamsa and the other members of cast and crew.

Apart from speaking about the film and the producer, what stood out was Pawan Kalyan asserting that cinema is above caste, religious and regional divides. “It does not matter who you are and whether you hail from a film family. Creativity and talent matter.”

Reiterating his commitment to the films he had taken up in recent years before he took up his post as Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan added, “I have not been competitive in cinema. But it is cinema that gave me food, made me what I am. So I am here to state that I have not abandoned my film.”