26 July 2022
Hyderabad
Filmmaker Mallik Ram, who earlier directed Adbutham, Pelli Gola (web series) and Naruda Donaruda, has come on board to direct part two of Siddhu Jonnalagadda-headlined DJ Tillu. With the first part becoming a pop culture phenomenon, the expectations around part 2 are significantly high. Speaking to idlebrain.com exclusively, Ram says he was supposed to do a film with Siddhu after DJ Tillu and was working on one story. “We both were excited about it. But at the same time, Sithara Entertainments wanted to know if there was a part 2 of DJ Tillu. To it, Siddhu was like, ‘They are asking about it. How do we go about it?’ Then I said probably Vimal Krishna (part 1 director) should take it over. But then Vimal was pitching for someone else and things were happening for him. So, he was not at all a part of DJ Tillu 2 from the beginning. So Siddhu asked me, ‘What do you think about Tillu 2’? I was up for it. We started doing a lot of brainstorming sessions and came up with an idea. We pitched to Sithara Vamsi who said, ‘If you are kicked about it, you should proceed with it but it should fit into the world of Tillu’. We felt we could fit its premise into Tillu and see how it works out. We worked on it for a month, coming up with the entire story. We completed the draft later. It was narrated to China Babu garu, Trivikram garu and Vamsi garu and they felt it was exciting,” he recalls.
Ram insists that the world of Tillu will remain the same but the story will not be a continuation of sorts. “Part 2 will, however, have the traces of the earlier part and will be a black comedy. With DJ Tillu, the makers felt there were a few places where the energy dipped a bit. We didn’t want to repeat that, so we worked a lot on the second half and came up with some interesting plot points. It’s a wacky idea, which is rooted and at the same time thoroughly entertaining. It will be a laugh riot with more chaos this time around. You’ll find Tillu more endearing and you’ll fall in love with him again,” he promises, adding that he, Siddhu and Kalyan Shankar, who is making his directorial debut with Sithara’s Anaganaga Oka Raju, have worked on the dialogues of the film.“I understand that dialogues are the most critical part of Tillu’s life, making him special or different from other people.”
Ram has completed scouting locations for the film, which will be predominantly shot in Hyderabad. “We are aiming to go on floors from August 16, with an intention to complete the film by November. We have a few new characters that come into Tillu’s life and the casting is underway right now. Sricharan and Ram Miriyala will be composing the music again, while hopefully Thaman garu will do the background score again. I really liked the background score of the first part. I spoke to Vamsi garu about it and he said, ‘We’ll see what we can do at that time’,” he concludes.
-NAGARAJ GOUD
