My film was always registered as ‘2’

When director

Srinivasa Raju

concluded his film

Dandupalya

in 2012, he did so with the promise of a sequel to explain the rest of the story. And he did, with not one, but two films, which will give the story a logical conclusion. The first of these, a flick called 2, produced by

Venkat Films

, was released on Friday. “Even though it is a sequel to my earlier film, there were objections to the use of Dandupalya in the title, as some sections of society believed it brought disrepute to the little hamlet. In fact, I registered my film as 2, but had retained a line that it is from the maker of Dandupalya. There was objection to that as well and I had to remove that as per a court order,” explains the filmmaker.
Unperturbed by this development, Srinivasa is busy giving final touches to the third part in the franchise, which he says will hit theatres in a month’s time, even as 2 has opened to favourable reviews. Lead actress Pooja Gandhi, meanwhile, has mixed emotions about biding adieu to a character — Lakshmi — that she holds close to her heart. “I am glad that we were able to bring this story to people,” she says.
Producer Venkat, who collaborated only on the second part of the franchise, says that being a part of a film that is not a regular, run-of-the-mill subject is what drew him to it.