Director Maruti mostly picks some limitation in a person and weaves an entertaining story around it — be it Mahanubhavudu where his hero suffers from an OCD or Bhale Bhale Magadivoi where the lead actor is forgetful. In his latest story, it is the character artiste Murali Sharma and his son Sumant Shailendra have a fetish for branded stuff. Brand Babu is Maruti’s story that’s directed by Prabhakar (of ETV fame), is set to release shortly.
Prabhakar recollects how he got this second project despite his his debut project tanking at the box office. He says, “Though Next Nuvve flopped, Maruthi knew it was the subject that failed and not me. He appreciated my work as a technician and gave me his story to direct. Brand Babu was narrated to many heroes but the producer of this film Shailendra Babu loved it and wanted to cast his son Sumanth Shailendra as the lead actor. Maruthi was asked to direct it but since he was pre occupied with other projects, he suggested my name. However, he supervised the entire film and it has his trademark entertainment.”
As a television artiste, Prabhakar had a successful career for 20 years and dabbled as a writer, anchor and director. Three years ago, he resolved to direct a film, its the natural next step, he says . He had by then acted as a hero in three films, and had written a few stories. No one asked him for his stories and he thought he might as well narrate and direct it. He approached producer Allu Aravind who not only liked the script but also gave him an advance but asked him to direct another subject - Next Nuvve.
Prabhakar quips, “I would love to continue here as a director but if it doesn’t work, I will go back to my putillu (television). They will always feed me.”
He reveals a few scenes from Brand Babu that are seemingly funny. A man who loves branded stuff has a son; as a child when the son asks for a toy on the street, the father gets it customised in a branded store. When he’s eating, his mother lovingly wipes his mouth with her pallu but the father stops it and says she should be using a branded kerchief. When the son grows up, people come to meet him, his Man Friday cross checks if the visitor is wearing branded shoes and clothes and then grants them an audience. So when the time to get hitched arrives, the son wants to marry a girl who has a status in society — a minister’s daughter. The father is thrilled with the son’s choice but somewhere something goes wrong and he ends up dating the minister’s cook/maid and not his daughter.
Prabhakar gets carried away and reveals some more, “Even when an elderly person in the family dies, Murali Sharma chides his wife for wailing and says she must maintain a dress code and mourn decently. It is an out and out entertainment, meant for an entire family watch.”
The best part of the film is the tagline — ‘A ‘maid’en love story’; that says it all.