ABCD short for American Born Confused Desi was not meant to be Sanjeev Reddy’s debut film . Sanjeev had joined as a story writer of Manju that was to be produced by Madhura Sreedhar and he wanted to direct Om Mangalam Mangalam but it was shelved. Later he planned a rom-com Santana Praptirasthu, and went ahead narrating the story to a few artistes. In this process he met Allu Sirish who egged him to see ABCD, a Malyalam movie with Dulquer Salman playing the lead. Sirish apparently asked Sanjeev what changes can be made to make it suitable for Telugu audience; he started working on that and things moved swiftly. Sanjeev Reddy says, “I kept Santana Praptirasthu on hold and went ahead with the Malayalam remake of ABCD retaining the title. There wasn’t any love story in that film, and the climax too wasn’t convincing. We tweaked it without missing out on the soul of the original.”
ABCD, released in Kerala in 2013, is about two rich guys, leading an irresponsible life causing heartburn to the father. In this version too, the hero comes to India due to some situations and the father uses this opportunity to block his return. He is compelled to study and get a job and sustain himself with a meagre maintenance. How Sirish who plays the hero and his cousin are trapped into impoverished existence and make the most of it is the gist of the film. They have no option but to finish business studies first. In the Telugu film, Sirish falls in love with Rukhshar Mir aka Dhillon; love blooms and becomes a sort of support to the hero; this love track is absent in the Malayalam movie .
Sanjeev Reddy agrees that the theatrical business for films has receded to little over two weeks and there is mounting pressure on the producers to recover the money invested via digital platform or satellite rights. Considering this scenario, what did he do to make the script interesting, to bring the audience back to the theatres? He shares his analysis, “This genre falls in the rebirth category. Producer Madhura Sreedhar is good at promotions, Suresh Babu and Yash Rangineni are giving ample support with the release, so we aren’t worried. I think people’s only entertainment is film, despite watching films on various platforms. Flocking the theatres on the first day to see the morning show has become customary for our audience. We worked almost three months on the writing. The climax in Malayalam shows the hero not changing his attitude. Here we show the hero changing for the better. The character change is rebirth and it is a perfect wrap.”
Sanjeev reveals the portion related to the US was shot at Azerbaijan. The remaining part has been picturised in the slums of Hyderabad.
Justifying Sid Sreeram’s voice for a song in the film, Sanjeev says, “The song ensures the chemistry is built between the pair. Sid’s magical voice has done wonders to Geeta Govindam and Undi Poradhe, in Hushaaru, a small budget film.”
Popular child artiste Bharat plays the teen cousin of Sirish. Naga Babu plays Allu Sirish’s father, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Shubhalekha Sudhakar, Vennela Kishore are cast in other important roles.