The 2015 floods that affected the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu inspired writer-actor Dhanush to set the climactic portion of his 2017 Tamil film Velai Illa Pattadhari 2 in rain-soaked Chennai. Now, another movie seems to have taken inspiration from a similar natural disaster. Even recently, Hyderabad drowned in unexpected heavy rainfall.
Gamanam, which will be released in multiple Indian languages, handpicks three stories, featuring Shriya Saran, Shiva Kandukuri, Priyanka Jawalkar and Nithya Menen. Shriya plays a hearing-impaired person abandoned by her husband. For an actor who has mostly starred in glitzy ventures and rom-coms, this role must have surely come as a surprise.
Anthologies aren't new to Telugu cinema. Praveen Sattaru's 2014 Chandamama Kathalu, which won a National Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu, was one too. And in a COVID-19 world, many filmmakers are looking to make anthologies as they can be wrapped up quickly.
But Gamanam, directed by newcomer Sujana Rao, was actually shot in 2019. The team wanted to release the film in theatres earlier this year, but the pandemic put a pause on its plans. Now that things are slowly inching back to normal, we might be able to catch this movie soon.