Kanche

During the filming of Vedam (2010) in Vishakhapatnam, Krish visited a museum which displayed a bomb dropped by the Imperial Japanese Army on the city during World War II. The bomb was used with the intention of creating a situation similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor. After further research, Krish learned that over 2.5 million Indian soldiers participated in World War II, and 2000 Telugu people from Madhavaram, West Godavari were sent to the war by the British government in India.[1] Krish worked on the film's screenplay for nine-and-a-half months and cited the process of obtaining accurate details as the reason for the length of time it took to finish. Krish gathered most of the information using the Google search engine and two teams were employed—one in India, the other in Italy.[1] He chose to narrate a love story set in the 1930s and focused on the macro and micro divisions between people, countries, races and religions.[1]

During the production of Gabbar Is Back, Krish's collaboration with Varun Tej was reported in January 2015; Ramoji Rao was to produce the film under the banner Ushakiron Movies jointly with Krish's banner First Frame Entertainment.[4] Pragya Jaiswal, who auditioned for Gabbar Is Back, was signed as the film's female lead.[5] The film was officially launched on 27 February in Hyderabad and was titled Kanche.[6] Kanche translates to fence in English and Krish relates that the film focuses on the effects of a fence on friendship.[7] On the 75th anniversary of World War II, Krish told the Indo-Asian News Service on 1 September that Kanche is his "most ambitious project" and also the first Telugu film set in World War II.[8]

Sai Madhav Burra, who collaborated with Krish on Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2013), was signed to write the film's dialogues.[9] V. S. Gnanasekhar was signed as the film's director of photography, and Sahi Suresh was selected as the film's art director.[10] Because of discontinuing his studies at a young age, Suresh was not knowledgeable about World War II, and spent three to four months watching old war films and reading about the war.[11] Chirantan Bhatt, who collaborated earlier with Krish on Gabbar Is Back, was signed to compose the film's soundtrack and score. Kanche marked Bhatt's debut in Telugu cinema.[12] Rama Krishna Arram and Suraj Jagtap edited the film.[13] Kanche was produced on a budget of ₹180 million.[2]

Varun Tej played the role of Dhupati Haribabu, a captain in the British Indian Army. Varun Tej described the first phase of Haribabu's character as a 23-year old "college pass-out, happy-go-lucky, chilled out guy". He had to modify his diction according to the timeline and observed the dialogue delivery of actors in old Telugu films. For the second phase, Varun Tej was trained by an army officer on a soldier's body language, and the way to hold guns among other things. He watched films like Saving Private Ryan (1988), The Thin Red Line (1998), Inglourious Basterds (2009), and Fury (2014) as well.[14] He underwent training in a boot camp for more than a week, during the gap between the Indian and Georgia schedules. During the filming of the war sequences in Georgia, Varun Tej was provided with an original Thompson submachine gun, which was manufactured in 1939, and used during the actual war.[15]

Jaiswal played the role of Sitadevi, a princess whose character was modelled on Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur.[16] After auditioning for the role, Jaiswal watched Krish's Vedam and Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum to understand his work and was "really touched" by the former.[17] Krish advised her not to watch any old Telugu films but try to analyse old English and Hindi films instead. Jaiswal opined that her character needed to focus "more on expressions than acting". She joined kathak classes after the film's shoot began, and no workshops were conducted for her.[16]

Nikitin Dheer was chosen to play Colonel Eeshwar Prasad in the film,[10] because Krish, who wanted an actor to match Varun Tej's persona, was impressed with his performance in Chennai Express (2013).[1] Srinivas Avasarala was cast as Dasu, Haribabu's friend and another volunteer soldier from the British Indian Army, who quotes writer Sri Sri as his friend Srinivasa Rao.[10] Avasarala was trained in the use of guns in Hyderabad and received training from an army officer along with Varun Tej on body language and other important aspects.[18]

Gollapudi Maruthi Rao and Sowcar Janaki were cast as Haribabu's grandfather and Sitadevi's grandmother respectively.[19] Filmmaker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao made a cameo appearance as a pianist in Madras Cultural Club, where Haribabu works as a part-time employee. Krish described Rao's cameo a "colourful" one and added that his look was inspired by that of Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.[20] 700 people were required to form an army and the film's unit selected nearly 100 Non-resident Indians apart from the local people. They were given formal training before they went on the film's sets.[18]

Principal photography commenced on 27 February 2015 at Hyderabad.[21] The second schedule commenced on 23 March at Tatipaka, a village near Razole in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.[22] Apart from Draksharamam and Kapotavaram, the village portions were filmed in Peruru Agraharam, Palakollu as Krish wanted a primitive settlement with poor infrastructure and palaces, resembling one of the pre-independence era. The film's crew then put up flower and fruit markets, and purchased antiques from a flea market.[1] The local people extended their support to the film's crew in return for the laying down of proper roads.[10] In other villages where there was better infrastructure, Suresh and his crew spoke to village heads and covered most of the roads with sand and mud. The houses were whitewashed for the film's shoot and were restored with their previous colours later.[11]

As all the houses in those villages were constructed using reinforced concrete, a team of 70 members were summoned from Hyderabad to recreate 1940s style. According to Suresh, the "nativity feel came alive" due to the presence of coconut trees.[11] The steam engine and the interiors of the first-class compartments in the train Haribabu and Sitadevi travel in from Madras to Devarakonda were designed in Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. Suresh's experience working as an art director on Venkatadri Express (2013) helped him.[11] The construction of the palace where Sitadevi lives took four to five days to complete at a cost of ₹4 million.[11] The war sequences were filmed in Georgia. The film's crew finalised 20 locations and the filming of the war sequences lasted for 35 days.[18]

Few key sequences were filmed at the Ananuri Bridge (pictured) in Tbilisi, Georgia.[18]

With the assistance of the Government of Georgia, huge sets were erected, including a German military base camp fitted with trenches and bunkers.[1] For the film's shoot, Krish hired a few telegraph machines, typewriters, and coffee cups and saucers manufactured during the timeline of the World War II.[18] Some key action sequences were filmed in a few old, dilapidated buildings located near Georgia and Varun Tej performed his stunts without a body double. A few sequences were filmed at the Ananuri Bridge in Tbilisi, Georgia.[18]

700 guns, four tanks, and a machine gun used in the war were allotted from the Georgia Military Institute military school. The Georgian Armed Forces trained the film's unit to use these weapons properly. The rent for each tank was 5000 dollars per day, and another tank was designed by Suresh and his crew.[18] Thousands of bullets were used every day and 15 people were employed to load the guns. On the last day of the filming of the climax episode, Varun Tej used more than 7000 bullets. For filming few bomb-blast sequences, the film's unit consulted several Hollywood technicians.[18] Principal photography was wrapped up on 6 July,[23] after a shoot of 55 working days.[2]

Kanche received positive reviews from the critics.[36] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu remarked that Kanche is a film that does not stand out "merely by being different, but also because it’s earnest", and added that Krish "Step[s] across the fence to a new world of storytelling".[37] Praising Krish's choice of genre, Suresh Kavirayani of the Deccan Chronicle gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, stating, "If you are looking for a change from the regular action-masala-song-dance-drama kind of films, you should watch Kanche". Kavirayani added: "The war scenes look authentic. Credit to cinematographer Gnana Sekar V.S for capturing the war scenes. Kanche is no less than any Hollywood film as far as the war scenes are concerned".[38] Rajeswari Kalyanam of The Hans India also gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and stated: "With Kanche, Jagarlamudi Krish has once again proven his ability to choose an offbeat theme, weave an engrossing tale and give it a technically brilliant cinematic rendition".[19]

Pranita Jonnalagedda of The Times of India gave Kanche 3 stars out of 5 and stated: "Kanche is a daring attempt for mainstream [Telugu cinema]. While there's an interesting story which is told really well, you will be left with the lingering feeling that it could have been a lot better".[39] Sify too gave Kanche 3 stars out of 5 and called it a film that is "[s]uitable only for discerning audiences" and praised the storyline, performances, production design, and dialogues.[40] Behindwoods gave the film 3 stars out of 5 as well and called it a "commendable attempt" and added:

You don’t get to see too many Indian films being made on war, especially South Indian industry hasn’t made many.(sic) Even the ones that have been made have not made a huge impact, especially with it comes to battle scenes. But that is where Kanche scores big time. The war sequence looks authoritative and intriguing. It travels throughout and the intensity has been maintained right through".[13]

Kanche grossed approximately ₹55 million and collected a distributor share of ₹38.5 million globally, thereby performing better than Raju Gari Gadhi and Columbus.[34] According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Kanche earned US$53,057 from its paid previews; it amassed US$46,751 on its first day and US$92,998 on its second day, taking its two-day United States box office total to US$192,806 (₹12.5 million).[41] The first weekend global box office gross and distributor share figures stood at approximately ₹130 million and ₹70 million respectively.[42]

In its first weekend at the United States box office, Kanche collected US$380,361 (₹24.7 million). It earned US$6,826 (₹0.443 million) from two screens in Canada and MYR15,921 (₹0.243 million) from 2 screens at the Malaysian box office in its opening weekend, thereby managing to recover 100% of the overseas distributors' investments.[43] In ten days, Kanche collected US$489,701 (₹32.1 million) at the United States box office, US$9,261 (₹0.607 million) at the Canada box office, and MYR19,316 (₹0.295 million) at the Malaysian box office respectively, taking its ten-day overseas box office total to US$503,461 (₹33 million).[44]

Kanche earned US$522,325 (₹34.7 million) in 17 days at the United States box office.[45] After losing many screens due to new releases in the United States, Kanche's 31-day total stood at US$527,724 (₹35 million).[46] In its lifetime run, Kanche grossed ₹200 million globally, with a distributor share of ₹140 million, and was declared a commercial success and also the 14th highest grossing Telugu film of the year.[3]