Director Shankar interview: On ‘Game Changer,’ Ram Charan’s explosive energy, and whether films can propagate a change
The filmmaker also speaks about his dream project ‘Velpari’ and whether he ever regretted pushing himself to do technologically-advanced films
(Originally published in The Hindu on January 06, 2025)
Most journalists patiently awaiting an interaction with filmmaker Shankar would have their minds set on how candidly or otherwise the filmmaker would address their questions. Has the failure of last year’s Indian 2 made him a more reluctant speaker? Surely the incessant trolling has gotten to him? Is he nervous about how the audience would receive his Telugu debut, Game Changer, starring the now globally renowned RRR star Ram Charan?
Conversely, from the moment he steps into the forum, Shankar embodies an evident, stoic sense of optimism. His calm demeanour reasserts that perhaps he is bigger than the failure of one project.
Negative reviews have never affected him, he says. “We have to accept it. Everyone has the right to criticise, and so we need to take negative reviews as challenges to overcome.” He says that he always sets his eyes on what needs to be done in the present, and when a film is over, on what needs to be done next.
How ‘Game Changer’ came to be
His Game Changer, set for release on Sankranti next week, initially began during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown as an interim project that would allow him to spread his wings without burning a hole in his pocket. “Because there were uncertainties, and restrictions were imposed on film productions. I was already working on Indian 2 and 3, and the scripting for Velpari was in full swing. The two other stories I had needed big budgets; one was a VFX film that needed a fresh face as the hero, and the other was a spy thriller that demanded shooting in foreign locales. I wanted something different, and the prospect of adapting someone else’s story excited me.” And that’s when writer-director Karthik Subbaraj brought the story of Game Changer, after which it went through a process to become more Shankar-ish. As the promos have teased, the film centres on a conflict between an IAS officer, played by Charan, and a politician, played by SJ Suryah. “There’s a backstory to who this officer is, and the shape that the story takes amidst this war is the most exciting part of the film.”
Read the full interview here: