Superman’s adventures in Hyderabad!

It is the new craze in Tinsel Town and it is here to stay! Not surprisingly, it seems to be enticing the enterprising lot, which is out to cash in on this phenomenon before a madding crowd jumps in to take a slice of the pie that is waiting to be explored. Elsewhere, makers are already making a killing with far lesser investments.

Indeed, web-series, the buzzword doing the rounds in the world of entertainment, is well-entrenched and destined to stay put up there, thanks to its steady rise in the popularity stakes across the globe.

Following the super success of ‘Muddapappu Avakai’, the first ever Telugu web-series featuring the popular actress Neeharika, yet another Tollywood personality is trying his luck by attempting something similar.

Anand Ranga, director of the critically-acclaimed Siddharth-starrer ‘Oy’, has uploaded the first episode of his six-part series titled ‘What if Superman lived in Hyderabad’.

Elaborating about his ambitious new project, Anand explains, “It’s basically fun-centred and revolves around the popular comic hero, Superman, and the kinds of nativity issues he confronts as a Telugu guy living in Hyderabad. The first season will be of six episodes, which we intend to develop further.”

Ironically, the inspiration for the humour-series took shape following a bitter experience he had at the hands of a Mumbai-based web channel.

“They made me work on umpteen scripts, usurped my work from right under my nose and paid me nothing. That was when I decided to do something on my own. I’ve scripted, directed and produced this web series,” points out Anand, in a tone that was all of exasperation.

But isn’t working on a web-series, a sort of a climb-down for a T-town director? Anand doesn’t think so. “My ultimate passion is to direct films, irrespective of the format. I see this as no less than a feature film as it requires as much, if not more passionate, intensity.

You see, even for a feature filmmaker, this will be no child’s play, when it comes to professional outpouring at every phase. It is always fun to direct films and the duration hardly matters at the end of the day. Direction gives me a high.

“I will direct a few pilot episodes after which my team will take over. It is an exciting proposition considering that there is no restriction on content; there are no distribution or exhibition hassles and the ‘connect’ is directly with the audience. The reach is more pronounced, so to say.

Ultimately, it can turn out to be an economically self-sustaining prototype for all kinds of filmmakers, who are keen to jump onto the bandwagon” says Anand, his optimism all too evident.

By: Sridhar Adivi