From Concept to Screen: The Crew Of Ravi Teja's Eagle On Crafting A Realistic Mass Actioner

“We never planned to go for any highs in the film…the characterisation of the protagonist gave us the highs,” says Manibabu Karanam, the writer of Ravi Teja’s Eagle, when asked how the presence of a star like Ravi Teja defined his writing process. Manibabu co-wrote the film with director Karthik Gattamneni.

The writer goes on to explain how even in a film like Pushpa, the highs are derived organically from the characters and not force-fitted. Talking about the balance he can strike while writing along with the director, he shares, “As a writer I sometimes take too many liberties, but Karthik brings me down to the correct level. Karthik’s understanding of films and my understanding of Telugu literature go hand-in-hand." While Karthik has always maintained that the film deals with a prevalent global issue, the writer assures that the way the issue has been incorporated doesn't come across as preachy in the film. “As an audience of this generation, even I don’t like to be preached. So the same applies to me as a writer as well. Eagle will be 80% entertainment and maybe 20% of social message."

The crew also spent a lot of time in Poland filming important sequences. Speaking about coordinating with the Polish crew, the film's production designer Sri Nagendra Tangala says, “The crew in Poland had a different working style and I got to learn a lot from it. For instance, they had a separate bomb team. In general, they go into extreme detail when it comes to practical effects on set.” Nangendra reveals that the team spent 21 days on pre-production with the Polish crew for a shoot that barely lasted 2 weeks.

In the film's trailer, although someone describes Ravi Teja as a ruthless assassin, the video cuts to show us him in the foreground with a Kali Maatha statue in the background. While the juxtaposition hints at the heroic characterisation of the protagonist, the production designer reveals that a part of the film demanded the huge Kali Maatha statue. He says, “We got artists from Kolkata specifically to make the statue, and we used a mixture of metal and thermocol to build it. The statue weighed around 4-5 tons and is the only structure of the film that has lasted more than a year till now. In fact, we even did poojas before the start of the shoot."

Music director Devzand talks about the references he got for the score of the film, “Karthik gave me references from Hans Zimmer and also from Adipurush. The mixing of our film was done by Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara, who had worked on several Bollywood films and their work in Adipurush had a lot of interesting choices."

Adding that the soundtrack was mastered in the UK, Devzand shares, “Nowadays most people including us first check the master on a phone because that is how a major chunk of the audience experience the sound anyways. So we ensured the quality is perfect on every phone.” Another major highlight in the trailer was the 'Vijrumbana' song that underscored the mood of the film. Devzand assures that the song will give goosebumps to the audience while watching the film. He adds, “It was initially intended to be just part of the background score but Karthik called me one night and asked me to turn it into a song. I had my doubts about making it into a song but finally, that was the right call. The song has a power of its own.”