There are a few director-music composer combos that are considered magical. Mani Ratnam – AR Rahman, SS Rajamouli – Keeravani and Shankar – AR Rahman are some of the most iconic duos in South cinema. In the same manner, star director Sukumar and rockstar Devi Sri Prasad make a rock-solid combination.
Right from Sukumar’s first film, Devi was his composer and they gave some evergreen albums to Telugu listeners. More than being a director and music composer, they are very good friends who share the same thought process. Over the years, they have reached a stage where both of them can understand each other’s tastes. Starting from ‘Arya’ to the recent ‘Pushpa’, they worked on many hit films and Devi composed for movies under Sukumar’s production banner too like ‘Uppena’ and ‘Kumari 21F’.
Recently, Sukumar got invited as a guest for the ‘Unstoppable’ show which is being hosted by Nandamuri Balakrishna. It was a completely fun episode and Balayya asked Sukumar about the reason behind working with Devi Sri Prasad all the time. The ‘Jagadam’ director said that he doesn’t know much about music and he listened to ‘Anandam’ songs at that time which he found fantastic. He thought that it is best to work with a young composer rather than a senior as he can share his ideas with more freedom. Thus started a formidable partnership between Sukumar and Devi Sri Prasad which is continuing strong even now. Rashmika and Allu Arjun too came in as guests during the episode and it is currently streaming on ‘Aha’.
Mythri Movie Makers are bankrolling this project which will be released in multiple languages. Sunil, Anasuya and others play key roles. Samantha did a special item song titled ‘Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava’ which became an instant chartbuster. ‘Pushpa – The Rise’ is set in the backdrop of red sanders smuggling and it is released on a pan-Indian scale. Allu Arjun was seen in a rugged and intense role. His performance was phenomenal and it is the biggest asset for this film. The second part will be coming out next year and we need to wait and see how it turns out.
