Kushi’s re-release is a moment for celebration: Producer AM Rathnam

Ahead of the re-release of ‘Kushi’ on December 31, producer AM Rathnam has opined that it is a memorable love story along the lines of some historic and literary characters. The producer, who brought out movies like ‘Boys’, ‘Premikula Roju’, ‘Jeans’ and ‘Oke Okkadu’ in Telugu (they were all big hits), feels that the re-release of the Pawan Kalyan-starrer is enthusing fans. 

Directed by SJ Suryah, the film was a raging blockbuster from Power Star after movies like ‘Thammudu’, ‘Tholi Prema’ and ‘Badri’. In this interview, the producer talks about the movie. Besides thanking Power Star’s creative inputs, AM Rathnam also praised Bhumika Chawla’s performance and PC Sreeram’s cinematography. 

Highlights:

Pawan Kalyan is a director material who knows the mass pulse. He and SJ Suryah worked so passionately on the film. The latter is a very good actor and not just a filmmaker. Those remain unforgettable days in my career. 

It was the hero’s idea to opt for a Hindi song. That’s why the credit for ‘Ye Mera Jahaan’, which was shot in Kolkata, belongs completely to him. It was a patriotic song that was different from regular hero-intro songs of the era. Lyricist Abbas Tyrewala wrote the song in just an hour. Remixing the old song ‘Aaduvaari Maatalaku’ was also Pawan’s idea. The audience remember the lyrics of ‘Premante’ and ‘Cheliya Cheliya’ to this day. 

Although the film was a remake, it felt fresh in many ways. The Tamil version was titled ‘Mutham’, meaning ‘Kiss’, first. But I felt the title doesn’t do full justice to the script. Also, it might not resonate with a section of the audience, I felt. We then opted for the title ‘Kushi’. The voice-over introducing the lead pair as being destined to become a married couple was novel. It revealed the climax itself at the start. 

‘Cheppalani Vundhi’ was the title for the Telugu version. It had a callback to Chiranjeevi’s ‘Choodalani Undhi’. The title was changed to ‘Kushi’ at the behest of Pawan Kalyan himself. Although distributors didn’t take to the name change kindly, they eventually came to see the point. 

The action sequences were choreographed by the hero himself. They were effortlessly interspersed with the film. ‘Lallu uncle maalum tereku’ was a line that I personally liked a lot. 

Both music and comedy were the biggest assets of ‘Kushi’. The waistline scene involving Bhumika Chawla became a rage. The scenes involving Ali, the folk song, and other aspects worked with the mass audience. Credit goes to Mani Sharma. 

‘Kushi’ was released in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu on the same day. It was also the first ever Telugu film to release in London. 

(‘Kushi’ was originally released in April 2001).