The breakout box-office success of his 2023 film Hanuman has led to his life becoming intrinsically linked with the god, feels actor Teja Sajja. The film follows a man getting powers akin to those of Hanuman.

On Hanuman Jayanti today, Sajja says he’s inundated with offers for many events for the occasion. “I have been invited to many places in Hyderabad for huge celebrations. I might visit one of them,” he tells us.

While working on the film, the actor says he could sense the deity’s blessings. “Over the two-year journey, our work was only 30-40%. The rest was all Lord Hanuman’s doing. Everything we did turned out to be the best for our project — even the biggest mistakes turned out in our favour,” shares the 29-year-old.

Growing up, his devotion towards Hanuman wasn’t as strong as it is today, he shares, “It wasn’t like I would do pooja, or go to mandir. I was not a staunch believer, I wouldn’t make such plans. But after the film, my connection with Lord Hanuman ji strengthened.”

What’s one quality that he wishes to imbibe from the deity? “Humility — when you know you are the most powerful person, but act like you are not. I wish to become as humble as Lord Hanuman,” the actor wraps up.

It’s the Indian film industry”, has been the rallying cry of the cross-pollination movement taking place across film industries in India. After the Telugu film RRR (2022) saw cameos from actors Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor fronted two of 2023’s biggest films: Atlee’s Jawan and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal.

The shift is turning stratospheric in 2024, with actor Prithviraj Sukumaran playing the baddie in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, actors Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan joining hands for actor Prabhas’ Kalki 2988 AD, actor Varun Dhawan’s collaboration with filmmaker Atlee for Baby John and actor Emraan Hashmi featuring in the Adivi Sesh-starrer Goodachari 2.

Actor Tiger Shroff says, “It really opens up the market, and we get a large audience with such collaborations. I would love to work with (actors) Allu Arjun, Ram Charan and Jr NTR, all of whom I am a huge fan of.”

Recently, Hanuman, starring Teja Sajja, a virtually unknown name in the north, went on to collect more than Rs. 50 crore in the region despite next to zero promotions. “There have been a couple of (Hindi) offers after Hanuman, which was also like a Hindi film. I am happy to do films for the national audience, if the subject is relevant,” he says.

Trade expert Atul Mohan, however, feels that cross-pollination has come and gone earlier, too. “In the ’70s and ’80s, actors such as Jeetendra and Sridevi would work in so many southern-language films, and the same amount in Hindi, too. Directors and producers would work here. And then it slowed down.”

However, exhibitor Akshaye Rathi doesn’t see this as just a trend. “This did happen a lot in the past — and it’s coming back now. And it will stay forever. Just look at (actors) Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR teaming up for War 2. When this happens, two massive markets get harnessed together,” he says.

It’s a matter of when that one film comes and collaboration across industries all starts again. If films like these don’t work as much, we might stop seeing the fascination with pan-India films.

- Atul Mohan, Trade Expert

Before Baahubali, people (in the north) would watch southern-language films on a TV channel and say ‘Achchi thi film’. Today, OTT has opened up things more.

- Shruti Haasan, Actor

Just look at Hrithik Roshan teaming up with Jr NTR for War 2. When this happens, two massive markets are harnessed at the same time.

- Akshaye Rathi, exhibitor

The recent superhero film Hanuman took everyone by surprise with its long legs at the box office. Made on a budget of Rs. 40 crore, it managed to rake in over Rs. 200 crore, along with praise for its use of VFX. And Teja Sajja, who plays the lead, says a lot of sacrifice went into achieving this.

In the two-and-a-half years that it took for the film to be completed, Sajja didn’t take up other projects. “There were many opportunities I rejected; about 70-75 that came my way in this journey. At least 15 would have been considerably decent projects. But, I was always committed to Hanuman,” he shares.

Moreover, the budget constraint was a constant battle to tackle: “Once we started shooting, it was a very strenuous process for the action sequences. There are no head replacement shots, like [there are] in big budget films. Every stunt in the film was performed by me, even the underwater sequences. We didn’t have the budget, so I learnt scuba diving. We figured other ways to do crane shots.”

But, all that effort paid off and how. “After the first few premieres in Hyderabad itself, I saw an overwhelming response and didn’t even look at the box-office after that. Ultimately, numbers translate into the number of people who watched the film, so I am more happy about that,” he ends.

For director Prasanth Varma, Hanu-Man is a passion project. He found the perfect collaborator in Teja Sajja, who plays a modern-day superhero infused with the power of Hanuman. Fronting the ambitious project was a matter of pride for the Telugu actor, but on the ground level, it was a tough shoot. Despite extensive VFX to aid the storytelling, Sajja says pulling off the action sequences was taxing.

“It was a physically demanding film. We shot the movie for about 120 days, out of which 70 days were about filming action scenes. I suffered many injuries. Prasanth is someone who won’t compromise on [his shots]. I used to do close to 25 takes for each shot while hanging from ropes because the timing of the camera, movement of the rope and landing positions [had to be perfect],” says the actor.

With Hanu-Man, the director has married Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps with storytelling. Last June, mid-day had reported how Varma and his AI prompt engineers utilized Midjourney to design the film’s posters (How AI gives birth to a new team of prompt engineers in Indian cinema, June 11).

Impressed by the results, Varma assembled a team that could harness the power of AI technology to create the superhero movie. The director shares, “The work of the AI team is not restricted to storytelling. In fact, for Hanu-Man, we created one character entirely on AI and then used 3D modelling to complete the final look.”