Ramesh Prasad revives Prasad Productions banner

L V Prasad, a stalwart of Indian cinema, was an actor who had also started a production house that produced movies in different languages.

The last film of Prasad Productions was the Kamal Haasan film, Ek Duje Ke Liye in 1981. L V Prasad's son, Ramesh Prasad, has revived the banner after three decades and the first film, Rushi (in Telugu), directed by Raj Madiraju, is rolling out in theatres on February 10. 

Rushi stars Aravind Krishna and debutante Supriya Shailja. Child artiste Gaurav also makes his debut with this film.

"After my father's demise, I did not produce any films because I was afraid I would bring a bad name to the company and my father. Moreover, my father was always in the forefront, totally involved in the movie, while I was behind the scenes managing production and business.

"After many years, I have realised the mistake I made in stopping. Since I decided to restart, I've heard many stories and was convinced with the narration of Raj Madiraju," says Ramesh Prasad.

On choosing Raj as director of the Prasad banner's comeback film, Ravi Prasad says: "I found him to be sincere. I knew he had the capacity. He has an MBA to his credit and also has a good family background.

"I am immensely pleased and satisfied. I know the film will not bring a bad name to our production house. People who have seen it so far have said it's good."

Ramesh Prasad found the human element in the story appealing. "The hero's characterisation in Rushi is very different. It's the story of a doctor right from his medical college days. I liked the element of sacrifice. It's a great human story."

Director Raj Madiraju says he was inspired by the character of Howard Roark in the book The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

"Rushi (the doctor in the film) is like Howard Roark. There is openness in what he says, his body language and philosophy. He believes in what he does. I had also read Doctors by Erich Segal and was inspired by that book too," says Raj.

To get the medical background right, Raj did some research. "I met doctors, interacted with medical groups on the internet. My sister and my niece are students of medicine. It's a story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. In a nutshell, it's the life of a medical student who saves his patient -- it's Mission Impossible V. It's a human story and difficult to slot in any genre."

The film moves from showing a medical student's light-hearted life on campus to a more intense narrative when a child with congenital heart disease comes for treatment.

"The highlights of the film are the kid's character, the fight to save the kid, romance between the girl and the boy and the medico's life on campus," says Raj.

The film touches on organ donation. In fact, on Republic Day as part of the Organ Donation Pledging Ceremony, the cast and crew pledged to donate their organs.

Aravind Krishna was chosen to play the hero because the director says he had the right physique and body language.

"We looked for a Telugu girl to play the heroine, but finally had to zero in on a Mumbai girl, Supriya Shailja, after looking at 30-40 girls for the role.

"The kid, Gaurav (about six or seven years old), is going to stay and he's already bagged the Arjun starrer directed by Trivikram Srinivas. About five-six others are also being introduced in the film," says Raj.

About 80 per cent of the film was shot in Mamatha Medical College, Khammam, and the rest in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

Tribhuvan Babu Sadineni (Ragini MMS, Tell Me O Khuda) is the cinematographer. Snigdha and Don-Chandran are music directors for the film. Kamal Hassan launched the audio recently in Hyderabad. Rajiv Nair handles art and national award winner Sreekar Prasad edits the film.

Ramesh Prasad is confident that "nobody will say it's a bad film. How much the audience will digest and accept it I don't know."

Raj says, "There is a buzz in the industry. We are upbeat and we are keeping our fingers crossed."