Chennai, Sep 1 (IANS): Filmmaker Krish Jagarlamudi says the makers spent a fortune on his forthcoming Telugu romantic war drama "Kanche", which he describes as the most ambitious project he has attempted in his career so far.
The filmmaker, who has been in the industry for seven years, claims "Kanche" to be Telugu cinema's first world war film.
"We've spent a lot of money on this project. It's the most ambitious film of my career. I've been thinking of doing this film for three and a half years and I'm glad it finally happened," Jagarlamudi told IANS.
The film is a love story set against the backdrop of World War II.
"On this day, 75 years ago World War II started, claiming the lives of over 50 million people. This film touches upon love and war. It focuses on the contribution of Indian soldiers in World War II, while presenting a macro and micro perspective about love," he said.
Starring Varun Tej, Srinivasa Avasarala and debutante Pragya Jaiswal, the film is jointly produced by Saibabu Jagarlamudi and Y. Rajeev Reddy.
Talking about the inspiration behind the film, Jagarlamudi said: "The title means fences in English. Just like how countries are segregated by fences, people in love are also segregated by things like language, community and so on".
"I'm using fence as the theme to understand war, friendship and love profoundly. In my opinion, every love story is like a war," he said.
The action sequences, shot in Georgia, feature machinery and weapons that were used in the war.
"We shot there for over a month. We had to keep everything as realistic as possible. Hence, we hired soldiers from different ethnic groups for the battle sequences, used real guns and tanks that were actually used in the war," he said.
"Kanche", according to Jagarlamudi, will narrate World War II from the Indian perspective.
"Varun plays Indian soldier Dhupati Hari Babu, who fought against Germany. Over two million Indian soldiers were part of the war, but sadly their contribution was never brought to the limelight. One of the highlights of the film will be a battle sequence that will unfold in Sector 1551 near Italian border," he said.