It was a long wait for fans but Karthikeya 2 finally hit the theatres this year. The film, starring Nikhil Siddhartha, Anupama Parameswaran, and Anupam Kher, is a sequel to the film Karthikeya (2014) and it revolved around the search for Lord Krishna’s anklet which is lost in the sunken city of Dwarka. While the film did impressive business in the Telugu-speaking regions, it surprised all with its Hindi collection.
The Hindi dubbed version collected Rs 28.50 crores as of September 5. In a candid interview with News18.com, Nikhil revealed that even Anupam Kher was shocked after seeing the response the film got. While he had predicted the film would be a ‘super hit’, he was surprised by the collections of the Hindi version.
The actor also opened up about the delay in the sequel, shared an update on Karthikeya 3, and more. An excerpt of the chat is below:
When Karthikeya hit the theatres, did you all originally plan for a sequel, or was it the result of the huge box-office success?
Once the first movie was made, the character of Karthik that I played in the movie suddenly became very famous. Even after two years of the movie’s release, people were talking about what would a character as Karthik do next. That is when we thought of the sequel. It was originally a standalone film, but then we realized that there was a lot of demand from people. Every event I used to go to, every post I put on social media, people would comment asking ‘When is Kartikeya coming?’. I would wonder ‘What? People want Part Two?’ And that is when me and my director Chandoo Mondeti thought of a good script.
It took us two to three years to lock one because we didn’t want to spoil the original. Because the original was like a cult film in Telugu. So we thought we shouldn’t spoil it unless you get a script, which is better than that. And then when we hit the idea, of the mystery of Dwaraka and the legacy of Lord Krishna, we thought we should make this film. So that’s how part 2 happened.
That explains the long gap between both the films…
(It had been) seven years since the first film was released. So what happened was we forwarded the story like three years from the first part in the movie, but in real life, there was an eight-year gap. So I had to get back in shape, I had to look like what I was in 2014 which was good for me. And now, we realized that you know, this franchisee can be made into such a big one, too. We give a lead for the third part in this too.
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If I remember correctly when Karthikeya 2 had released, it gave tough competition to Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan. Did you anticipate this kind of competition, especially in Hindi circles?
No, we did not expect it because who could expect that? We just thought we could have a release in Hindi and in the Hindi northern belt. And we thought we can have a release in Malayalam also. But we didn’t expect anything because we thought Telugu people are going to watch it mainly. Somewhere, two to three days before we had a media show. Everybody started praising the film, saying this is gonna do wonders. I want to thank my distributors, UFO, because they watched the movie two days before, and they said, ‘We are gonna take this movie big’. I think the number of screens increased from around 30 shows to almost 3000 shows. So it was all like a dream come true.
Now I realize that among people across India, tastes are changing, and they want to watch movies that make sense and which are quite strong on content. And talking about comparison with other films, I don’t think our movie should be compared because it is a small film, which did really well. And we’re just happy that we got our space and the movie made such amazing numbers at the box office. So very, very happy.
Your co-star Anupam Kher was the biggest cheerleader of the film when it was performing well at the box office. Did you get a chance to speak to him following the film’s release?
Anupam Ji is one person for whom, more than money, he loves stories I think, he loved the story of Karthikeya and that is why he accepted it. When we asked sir what his remuneration will be, he said, ‘Leave that aside, I want to do this film because I loved the script.’ The minute he said that we were really, really happy. When I met him after the release, even he was shocked. He said, ‘I thought the movie was going to be a super hit. But itna chalegi
maine socha nahi’.
He’s such a kind soul and taking time out, he came and promoted the film. He made sure that he had a special show for his friends, family, and journalists whom he knew. I’m really indebted to him and even Vivek Agnihotri Ji. He was there and invited the media and made sure that people watched the movie. So a lot of people have done that. Even journalists, I really want to thank the entire media for like supporting the film, and some of the reviews are fantastic. It is just so nice for the people who supported us.
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The film ends with a hint that Karthikeya 3 will be happening. Could you give us an update on that?
Yes, we have, especially when you watch the end of the movie, we went to Spain, Portugal and Greece to shoot the lead to the third part. Our producer was like, ‘Are you mad? You’re spending so much money on shooting the lead to the third part.’ But once people saw that on screen, they loved it. Everybody’s been asking about the third part, and we have a story ready, which we are going to start shooting pretty soon. We are going to come up with the third installment and it’s going to be in 3D. We are making the necessary preparations for it. It’s going to be on Indian culture and mythology. It’s going to be full of adventure, suspense and fun.
In the last one year, films like RRR and Pushpa have won over non-Telugu speaking audiences. Do you think that there’s a formula that Telugu films have that several Bollywood films are not able to follow?
There is something called a public pulse and it keeps changing often. As long as we are in touch with the public and we know what they want, I think movies are gonna be successful. People are liking Telugu films (but they also liking) a film like Dangal. It was enjoyed everywhere. People enjoyed in China. So I believe it’s not Telugu, not Bollywood, not Kollywood, it is just good cinema.
Whenever there is a good film, everybody in every language is going watch it. Nobody will watch bad cinema just because it’s a Telugu film. Or, it’s not like people are not going to watch a Bollywood film,. People will watch if the film is good. The audience, irrespective of language or region, wants to watch good cinema. Content is king and content is always going to be king.
Nikhil Siddhartha starrer Karthikeya 2 is now streaming on ZEE5.
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