Pandaga Chesko

Pandaga Chesko
First look poster
Directed by	Gopichand Malineni
Produced by	Paruchuri Kireeti
Screenplay by	Kona Venkat, Anil Ravipudi
Story by	Veligonda Srinivas
Starring	Ram Rakul Preet Singh Brahmanandam Jagapathi Babu
Music by	S. Thaman
Cinematography	Arthur A. Wilson
Edited by	Gautham Raju
Production company	United Movies
Release dates	15 May 2015
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Pandaga Chesko (English: Celebrate Festival) is an upcoming Telugu film directed by Gopichand Malineni and produced by Paruchuri Kireeti on United Movies banner. The film features Ram, Rakul Preet Singh and Sonal Chauhan in the lead roles and Brahmanandam, Sai Kumar and Jagapathi Babu in other important roles. The story was penned by Veligonda Srinivas and the screenplay was provided by Kona Venkat and Anil Ravipudi with the former of the two writing the dialogues of the film. S. Thaman composed the music while Arthur A. Wilson and Gautham Raju handled the cinematography and editing of the film respectively.

The film is all about a millionaire, who has earned a lot in a foreign country and visits his family in India. The film was officially launched on May 17, 2014 at Film Nagar in Hyderabad. The principal photography of the film started on June 16, 2014 at Hyderabad.

The film is scheduled to release on May 15, 2015.^[1]

Cast

• Ram
• Rakul Preet Singh
• Jagapathi Babu
• Brahmanandam
• Abhimanyu Singh
• Sai Kumar
• Sonal Chauhan
• Priya
• Tejaswi Madivada

Production

Development

In June 2013, reports emerged that Allu Arjun and Gopichand Malineni would be working together for a film which would be produced by Bandla Ganesh on Parameswara Art Productions banner.^[2] However in August 2013, it was reported that Dil Raju would produce the film on Sri Venkateswara Creations banner.^[3] In September 2013, Kona Venkat confirmed that he would be penning the story & dialogues of the film.^[4] In a turn of events, Ram replaced Allu Arjun while Paruchuri Kireeti issued a press release that he would be producing the film on United Movies banner.^[5][6] The film was titled as Pandaga Chesko in mid February 2014.^[7] In early May 2014, the makers said that the film will be launched on May 17, 2014 and on the said date, the film was launched at Film Nagar in Hyderabad.^[8][9][10] S. Thaman composed the music while Arthur A. Wilson and Gautham Raju handled the cinematography and editing of the film respectively.^[11] The first look posters were unveiled on 14 January 2015 on the eve of Bhogi.^[12]

Casting

It was said in mid-February 2014 that Ram would sport a new look in this film.^[13] After Ram was selected as the protagonist of the film, Hansika was selected as the heroine of the film in early March 2014.^[14] Jagapathi Babu was recruited as the antagonist of the film in early April 2014.^[15][16] In early May 2014, Hansika was replaced by Rakul Preet Singh because the former had lack of dates to accommodate due to multiple projects in hand by then.^[17][18] At the same time, reports emerged that Catherine Tresa would be selected as the second heroine in the film.^[19] Later she clarified that the makers did approach her for the role of second heroine but she rejected the offer since she was concentrating on main leads only.^[20] In mid-May 2014, the first look of Ram in this film was released which featured him stylish costumes.^[21] Hyderabad based Telugu actress Priya was selected to play an important character role in the film.^[22] In mid June 2014, it was revealed that Ram would play the role of an NRI who visits his ancestral village to spend some time with his family and Rakul Preet Singh would play his love interest.^[23] In the second week of July 2014, Sonal Chauhan was selected as the second heroine in this film.^[24] Few more stills of Ram were released on July 29, 2014 which received positive response.^[25][26] Tejaswi Madivada was confirmed as a part of the film's cast in mid November 2014.^[27] Later, Sonal Chauhan confirmed that she too would be seen as a NRI. She said that her characterization is very intense similar to the role Sridevi played in Laadla.^[28] Abhimanyu Singh was signed for a parallel lead role alongside Ram and was paired with Sonal Chauhan.^[29] Rakul Preet said in an interview that she would be seen as an environmentalist in the film who takes herself too seriously.^[30]

Filming

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, where few key scenes were shot.

In early June 2014, the makers confirmed that the principal photography of the film would start on June 12, 2014.^[31] But it started on June 16, 2014 at Hyderabad due to delay in music sittings.^[32] After completion of the first schedule, the second schedule started on July 14, 2014 at Hyderabad where some key scenes were shot on Ram and Rakul Preet Singh.^[33] Days later, some scenes on Ram and Vennela Kishore were shot at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.^[34][35] On July 27, 2014 Ram participated in an action sequence which was shot on a hilltop near Hyderabad.^[36] It was announced that on the schedule's completion in September 2014, the filming would continue in United States and the principal photography would end there on November 15, 2014.^[37] Meanwhile, the next schedule began on August 15, 2014.^[38]

A romantic song and few key scenes were shot in Pollachi in that schedule.^[39][40] That schedule ended on August 22, 2014 and a new schedule started at Pollachi.^[41][42] Few action sequences were shot under the supervision of Stunt Silva till August 30, 2014.^[43] With this, most of the film's shoot was completed.^[44] The film's team returned from Pollachi on September 14, 2014 and the next schedule started at Hyderabad on the next day.^[45] Sonal Chauhan joined the film's sets at Annapurna Studios on October 29, 2014.^[46] Few key scenes on Ram, Rakul Preet and Sonal Chauhan were shot at Ramoji Film City in mid December 2014.^[47] Rakul Preet revealed in an interview that she would participate in the shoot of the film's climax at Samalkota after completing the climax shoot of Shimla Mirchi.^[48]

Music

S. Thaman composed the music for this film marking his hat-trick collaboration with Gopichand Malineni. The music sittings started at Thaman's music studio in Chennai where Gopichand Malineni, Ram and lyricist Bhaskarabhatla were also present.^[49][50] In early June 2014, the makers informed to the media that the music sittings were still ongoing under the supervision of Thaman.^[31] The music sittings ended on June 16, 2014.^[32]

References