Director Prasanth Varma, who is currently enjoying the success of his mythological superhero film HanuMan, opened up about the film’s budget, and the promise that he makes to all of his producers. In an interview, the director said that he has a reputation for overshooting his budgets, but said that he is very economical with his work process, and that he doesn’t shoot unnecessary footage.
Asked about the film’s budget, Prasanth said that HanuMan cost Rs 40 crore to produce, minus advertising and marketing. He said that it became a joke among his team when everybody started praising him for delivering such a major hit on such a small budget, because they know what a spendthrift he is. “I always overshot my films. Now everybody is saying that I am a filmmaker who makes film in small budgets, but actually I’m infamous for increasing the budgets of my films,” he said.
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Prasanth continued, “Whenever I meet a producer, I tell him, ‘No matter how much I try, the budget will keep increasing because I keep coming up with new ideas.’ But I will tell them first. If you think that the idea is worth putting more money into, give me the money, I’ll shoot the scene. But if you think you can’t give more, I’ll still shoot the scene. But I improvise a lot, while shooting, while writing, while editing, during dubbing…”
Prasanth said that he was lucky to have solid backing behind HanuMan as well. “The producer I worked with on this film is a visionary guy. He pushed me to my limits. He said, ‘Go make it, don’t worry about it, go ahead’. Never in this entire journey did he say, ‘Prasanth, you’re overbudgeting the film’. He’s the one who always pushed me to go beyond the budget and make the film the way I want it to be.”
Prasanth said that he promised the producer that he would exceed the budget, but told him that he’d make up for it by ‘creating hype’. “I’m obsessed with cutting teasers and trailers, so I made sure to create a promotional plan for the film to create the hype. But I will not waste money,” he said. Prasanth explained that while many big-budget films have first cuts of around four hours long, his first cut for HanuMan was two hours and 45 minutes long. “I only shot five minutes extra,” he said.
HanuMan has proven to be a big commercial hit, grossing over Rs 230 crore worldwide. Prasanth is now planning on fleshing out his cinematic universe with a total of 12 films that would be overseen by him, but partially directed by others. A direct sequel, Jai Hanuman, has been announced for 2025.
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