“If there’s any thing that’s selfless in this world, it’s only love. And I want to be the world’s most famous lover,” declares the protagonist of Telugu film ‘World Famous Lover’, which is releasing in the UAE on Valentine’s Day.
The film is directed by Kranthi Madhav with Devarakonda Vijay Sai in the lead, supported by not one but four actresses. We understand from the teasers and pre-release promotions that the anthology romantic drama revolves around love, sacrifice, compromise, pain, madness and companionship.
Here are a few things you need to know about the film:
Ensemble cast
Vijay Devarakonda (now Devarakonda Vijay Sai), who became a massive star thanks to 2017 film ‘Arjun Reddy’, plays the lead role alongside Rashi Khanna, Aishwarya Rajesh, Catherine Tresa and Brazilian actress and model Izabelle Leite. Devarakonda said that the film has given him great satisfaction and that after having worked with four gorgeous actresses he doesn’t want to do another love story for the next three years.
“It’s like after have a delicious dessert, you don’t want to touch anything else,” he quips.
Romantic theme
With four heroines in four diverse characters, the film naturally has four different love stories. While Rajesh plays a simple, homely housewife; Khanna and Tresa enter the protagonist’s life as lovers. Leite plays the role of a pilot with whom the hero is also romantically involved. Through their characters, the film seeks to send out the message that love doesn’t mean compromise, it means sacrifice and that there’s divinity in love,
UAE connection
Tresa, a Kerala native who lived in Dubai, moved to Bengaluru for college. Now she is busy actress in South India working in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam film industry. ”What I really liked about the film is that it’s written brilliantly well and when a script is done well, the characters also by default are etched out well,” she said. “In spite of the fact that this film has four heroines, I do think every one of us have had really solid roles. I think it was a great experience. It was fun.”
Who is Izabelle Leite?
The Brazilian actress and model made her debut in the Hindi film ‘Talaash: The Answer Lies Within’. She then appeared in a lead role in Bollywood with ‘Sixteen’ in 2013 and ‘Purani Jeans’ the following year. This is her first outing in a Telugu movie. Leite said she enjoyed working on the project and hoped to do more films in Andhra Pradesh, and definitely again with Devarakonda.
“Working with Vijay was great. We had a lot of fun on the sets. Since it’s my first in Telugu and acting opposite Vijay, who is such big star in Telugu film industry, I didn’t know how comfortable I would be. But he helped me a lot and felt pretty confident working with him,” Leite says.
Telugu movie veteran
Khanna made her debut in Telugu with the film ‘Oohalu Gusagusalade’ and predominantly works in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. She debuted as an actress with the Hindi film ‘Madras Cafe’ and starred in Tamil film ‘Imaikkaa Nodigal’. With more than 20 Telugu films to her credit, in which she has acted with all the top Telugu heroes, Khanna is quite fluent in the language.
TV beginnings
The Chennai-born Telugu star has appeared in leading roles primarily in Tamil cinema. She has acted in Telugu, Malayalam films and one Hindi, too. Rajesh started her career as a compere in a comedy show called ‘Asathapovadhu Yaru’ on Sun TV. Her father Rajesh was also an actor who appeared in 54 films in Telugu. Her grandfather Amarnath was a popular lead Telugu actor and a producer, while her aunt Srilakshmi, is a Telugu comedian with more than 500 films to her credit.
Who is the director?
Kranthi Madhav who was born in Khammam and brought up in Warangal, based part of the story against the backdrop of the coal mines of Khammam district in Telangana. He considers Guru Dutt, T Krishna and K. Balachander as his inspiration. Madhav, who also scripts the stories, has directed ‘Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju’ and ‘Ungarala Rambabu’ in Telugu.
Music
Gopi Sundar is the music director who has collaborated with several music directors including the composer duo Vishal–Shekhar, for whose music he also provided vocals. He made his debut as a film score composer in 2006 and went on to produce several commercially successful songs in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil language films. The music director from Kerala forayed into Telugu film industry with the film ‘Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju’.
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Don’t miss it!
‘World Famous Lover’ releases in the UAE on February 14.
