Shailaja Reddy Alludu is a fun film featuring a flawless hero: Maruthi

If his previous films

Bhale Bhale Magadivoy

and Mahanubhavudu are anything to go by, then you’d be forgiven for thinking that director Maruthi Dasari has a proclivity for using strange quirks, like forgetfulness and OCD, to make his protagonists oddly-lovable, and sometimes, even relatable. But it’s this stereotype he was keen to break, confesses Maruthi, who decided to shed his formula for Shailaja Reddy Alludu. featuring Naga Chaitanya, Anu Emmanuel and Ramya Krishnan in lead roles, the film will feature a “picture-perfect” protagonist, with no tragic flaws whatsover, says Maruthi. “I don’t want people to think that the only films I make are those based on protagonists’ with disorders,” he chuckles.


So what is the protagonist of Shailaja Reddy Alludu like? “Let’s just say he’s flawless,” Maruthi quips. “I did not want to create a protagonist with a quirk this time around. So, Naga Chaitanya’s character Chaitu is good to a fault. He’s patient and well-adjusted to others’ needs. However, those around him, including his father (played by Murli Sharma), lady love and mother-in-law, are nothing like him. How he suffers due to the egos of people around him is what the film is all about,” he explains. Maruthi is quick to add that the film will be nothing like the atta-alludu dramas of the 80s. “The 80s dramas saw the mother-in-law and son-in-law at loggerheads all the time. But Shailaja Reddy Alludu is not like that. It will offer something different from what you’d expect of a Chai film. Ramya Krishnan madam is stupendous in her light-hearted role. Anu plays a character who has a huge ego. The film will have my trademark humour, but at the heart of it is a simple story,” he rounds off.


Produced by Naga Vamshi and PDV Prasad, presented by S Radha Krishna (Chinna Babu) under Sithara Entertainments, Shailaja Reddy Alludu is releasing tomorrow.