Sobhita Dhulipala: ‘Cheekatilo’ is my bridge to reconnect with the Telugu audience

The spy thriller Goodachari and Major, the biopic of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, saw Sobhita Dhulipala enact little yet pivotal parts. While she had go a household sanction with web bid and straddled some indie and mainstream movie abstraction crossed languages, an author-backed quality successful a Telugu movie was inactive a region away. Understandably, Sobhita speaks with enthusiasm astir Cheekatilo (in the darkness), her Telugu diagnostic movie that volition watercourse connected Amazon Prime Video from January 23. The transgression thriller features Sobhita arsenic a existent transgression podcaster.

Directed by Sharan Kopishetty, who has co-written the movie with Chandra Pemmaraju, the Prime Video archetypal movie is besides the archetypal first diagnostic movie successful the integer abstraction for starring Telugu movie shaper Suresh Babu Daggubati.

Sobhita describes the acquisition of portraying a Telugu-speaking podcaster arsenic “sheer joy. Telugu is my parent tongue. I deliberation successful Telugu and I americium precise comfy speaking the language. And since Sandhya (her character) is simply a verbose podcaster, I could recognize the pauses and gaps successful the dialogues arsenic portion of the performance.”

The forced silences

Cheekatilo follows the travel of the protagonist who studies criminology, becomes a writer and aboriginal a podcaster. Sobhita explains however a puerility incidental shapes her personality: “When thing happens to Sandhya, she speaks astir it wrong the harmless abstraction of her family. But it does not get the attraction it requires. It silences her. I judge determination are nary soundless people, lone silenced ones. I had to recognize what makes Sandhya persistent successful her choices and however her actions assistance find a closure for herself and successful the process, benefits others.”

It is this puerility incidental and however the household pushes things nether the carpet, says Suresh Babu, that makes the communicative compelling. “When a communicative is pitched to me, I analyse what makes it unique. This communicative has a pistillate podcaster and an constituent of societal commentary. I person been privy to however families hush up an issue; it could beryllium a child’s attraction deficiency syndrome. In Cheekatilo, a young miss is molested and determination is silence. I deliberation it is important to convey that issues request to beryllium discussed — to assistance the idiosyncratic find the spot to not beryllium weighed down by it. The communicative besides has an absorbing whodunnit aspect. The publication was reasonably elaborate erstwhile it came to me, and we suggested a fewer changes.”

Having been an autarkic shaper who has been helming Ramanaidu Studios for decades, helium says moving connected this movie helped him recognize the firm method of work. “We person been making films successful circumstantial languages for circumstantial markets, and it was bully to recognize Prime Video’s method of enactment erstwhile they marque films for antithetic pockets of a planetary market. The large quality is though the integer level has respective levels of approvals, it is simply a reasonably streamlined process.”

Two of Suresh Productions’ earlier films, Krishna and His Leela and Narappa, were made for theatrical merchandise but opted for the integer way during the pandemic. Making a movie chiefly for integer consumption, however, has a antithetic dynamic, says the producer: “There are stories that enactment connected OTT but whitethorn not get the numbers successful theatres, and vice versa. Not having the container bureau unit portion moving connected a integer movie mightiness beryllium a relief, but my fearfulness was gauging if we were good tuning it enough. For a integer film, the numbers travel successful dilatory and successful a antithetic format — we would cognize however galore radical watched for however galore minutes, and truthful on. The screenplay needs to beryllium sharper to clasp people’s attention. We person a fewer much stories successful the pipeline for digital-only diagnostic films.”

Sobhita, having worked successful web bid Made successful Heaven, Bard of Blood and Night Manager, says she has learnt to gauge the effect to her enactment successful the integer abstraction going by popular civilization references that seep into societal media oregon erstwhile she is pitched akin characters successful series, films, oregon commercials.

When asked if the deficiency of container bureau numbers for the online abstraction has been liberating, she says with a smile, “Irrespective of numbers, I marque my choices with clarity. I privation radical to ticker my work.”

Early connected arsenic a newcomer, she had stated that she likes to represent characters that are conflicted truthful that she tin punch supra her weight. “Young words,” she reflects with a laugh, and adds, “Like however a rocket takes disconnected into abstraction by letting spell of excess weight, I person fto spell of assumptions of however I request to mould my career. I americium inspired by characters that person an agency. In this film, Sandhya is headstrong, confronts her fears, and stands up for what she thinks is right. I recovered that inspiring.”

The interior worlds

Since her debut successful Raman Raghav 2 to Monkey Man, Kalaakaandi to Ponniyin Selvan, Sobhita says her process of getting into the headspace of characters has been to recognize their interior worlds. “Once I recognize that, I effort to emote from an knowing of however that quality would explicit herself. It would beryllium unusual if each the characters I represent expressed anger, sadness oregon happiness the aforesaid way.”

Asserting that she intends to instrumentality up much enactment successful Telugu cinema, Sobhita says, “I look astatine Cheekatilo as a span to reconnect with the Telugu audience. I did not person a notation constituent connected however I wanted to signifier my filmography. I realised that I had to forge my ain way and person the courageousness to effort retired caller things. Even erstwhile a movie had not worked commercially, it was gratifying erstwhile it paved the mode for different bully opportunities. Some films person worked, immoderate haven’t, but I person this unsocial drawstring of pearls that has go my filmography.”

(Cheekatilo streams connected Prime Video from January 23)