HanuMan director Prasanth Varma says he ‘used to hate Rajamouli’ because RRR filmmaker denied his repeated requests to assist him

Referring to himself as an Ekalavya to Rajamouli, Varma recently recounted to Siddharth Kannan how he attempted to work as an assistant to Rajamouli during his engineering days. “I desperately made several attempts to reach out to him to ask if I could join him as an assistant director. I used to send him emails and messages on Twitter requesting the same. He was very sweet and told me that his team was already full. I used to hate him, thinking why he was not taking me in despite me being so talented and hardworking,” he recalled.

Varma also noted that he understood Rajamouli’s situation only after he became an independent director himself. “But, at the same time, it’s like Ekalavya’s story. Since Dronacharya couldn’t take him as his disciple, he (Ekalavya) learned on his own by observing everything from a distance. The same was the case with me. I learned everything by watching his films, their making videos, and how Rajamouli does stuff,” he added.

Recalling his later encounter with Rajamouli, Varma continued, “After HanuMan’s teaser was released, I met him at an event. He praised the teaser, remarking that it looked ‘pretty good’. He emphasized that I had been given an opportunity to achieve something that had taken him 20 years. He urged me to handle it responsibly and not blow it. My response to him was that I might actually blow it (laughs). I then scheduled an appointment with him and met him. I asked him about VFX procedures and sought recommendations for VFX companies. He mentioned there was no point in doing that since the people he worked with might have joined other firms.”

“He then offered a few suggestions, one of which was to add a layer of environment to the shots. For instance, if it’s an action sequence, include dust. If it involves fire, add smoke; so that these layers cover up your VFX mistakes. He also recommended not making scenes overly bright and advised keeping them slightly dark, which would again help in concealing certain flaws. So, inputs like those really helped while doing VFX shots in HanuMan,” he added.

The film has emerged as a major success, making Rs 230 crore worldwide against a budget of Rs 40 crore. Varma said that he intends to create a shared universe of 12 movies.