Producer Sahu Garapati on ‘Tuck Jagadish’, OTT release and more

Producer Sahu Garapati of Shine Screens says that Nani’s ‘Tuck Jagadish’ is having to be released directly on Amazon Prime (on September 10) out of no choice. In his latest interview, the young producer admits that a theatrical release would have been ideal. That said, he suggests that he just can’t help it in the prevailing situation.

A lot of people have been shocked by your decision to skip a theatrical release. What went into the decision to release on OTT?

We had no choice. The film completed its production works in December, 2020. We waited for several months before and after the second wave-induced lockdown. As recently as in August, we were mooting a theatrical release. At a time when theatres are not running at full capacity and the exhibition sector is not doing well in large parts of the domestic and overseas market, we decided to skip the theatres altogether.

Your decision has antagonized theatre owners.

We have not hurt anybody. It’s natural for creators of content to wish for a theatrical release. That said, ‘Tuck Jagadish’ will reach the family audience at the comfort of their homes for Vinayaka Chavithi. While ‘Uppena’ and ‘Jathi Ratnalu’ did extremely well this year in theatres during the pandemic, ‘Vakeel Saab’ had to be removed from theatres after the second wave hit the country.

You are highlighting the fact that ‘Tuck Jagadish’ is a family movie.

Yes. There is comedy in it, but before everything, it’s a family drama. The emotions are there throughout. There are a lot of relationships in the story. Director Shiva Nirvana’s biggest strength lies in handling emotional subjects. And actor Nani is known for pulling off performance-oriented roles. He was our natural choice. I must say that ‘TJ’ is driven by its emotional content. Its run-time is 140 minutes.

Thaman has composed the songs. But why did you choose Gopi Sundar for the BGM?

Director Nirvana has previously worked with Gopi Sundar on two movies. Given the nature of the subject, he preferred to pick the music director for the background score.

What about your upcoming movies?

We have a movie lined up with actor Naga Chaitanya. The name of the director will be announced soon. We will be producing Nandamuri Balakrishna garu’s movie with director Anil Ravipudi. As for Vijay Deverakonda’s movie, it has been put on hold for now.