Mega Power Star Ram Charan’s upcoming rural action drama Peddi is already generating huge buzz with its powerful glimpse videos and chartbuster songs. Directed by Buchi Babu Sana and produced on a grand scale by Venkata Satish Kilaru under Vriddhi Cinemas, the film is presented by Mythri Movie Makers and Sukumar Writings. The film is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on June 4.
Speaking at a recent press meet, production designer Avinash Kolla shared several exciting details about the making of Peddi, calling it one of the most emotionally powerful stories he has worked on in his career.
Avinash revealed that he was deeply moved when director Buchi Babu narrated the story to him for the first time. He said he could not recover from the emotional impact of the narration for nearly 20 minutes and felt that the story itself carried extraordinary strength. That emotional depth, he explained, pushed him to take extreme care with every aspect of the production design.
Since Peddi is set in the 1970s and 1980s, the team recreated an entire vintage atmosphere for the film. Avinash explained that the biggest challenge for any art director is to make audiences forget they are looking at a film set. According to him, the sets created for Peddi are so natural that viewers will not even realize they were specially built for the movie.
The story is set in the Vizianagaram region, and the production team recreated old streets, iconic structures, and local surroundings from that era. Avinash said they carefully designed everything to authentically capture the feel of rural Andhra Pradesh from those decades. He also revealed that the film includes unique wrestling and cricket sequences that have been designed on a large scale.
One of the major highlights, he said, is a never-before-seen wrestling setup created in an underground environment. The now-popular shot of Ram Charan holding a gada was reportedly filmed in this specially designed set. Avinash added that extensive attention was given to the sports portions to maintain realism throughout the film.
Talking about cinematographer R. Rathnavelu, Avinash said the strong coordination between the art department and cinematography played a key role in shaping the visual quality of the film. He described working with Rathnavelu as a wonderful experience with perfect creative sync.
Responding to comparisons with Lagaan, Avinash clarified that Peddi has a completely different setting and emotional tone. While Lagaan was set during British rule, Peddi takes place in the 70s and 80s in a Vizianagaram backdrop. He said the cricket scenes in the film will feel highly relatable and natural, similar to the experience of villagers casually watching local matches from field boundaries.
The production team reportedly spent more than a year on pre-production work. During that time, miniature versions of every major set were created before actual construction began. Avinash revealed that all the sets were built in open grounds and shot mostly in natural lighting to retain authenticity.
He also shared details about a challenging hill-station village set that was created inside a bungalow setup in Hyderabad. According to him, audiences will feel like they are watching a real village located beneath a hill. He called it one of the toughest yet most satisfying sets designed for the film.
Another major set in the film is a sugar factory, which Avinash says looks completely realistic on screen. He emphasized that even though many locations were specially built, audiences would not be able to identify them as artificial sets.
Avinash revealed that Peddi features 24 large sets built entirely from scratch, along with nearly 60 to 70 additional setups. He explained that handling a massive star cast and large-scale shoot becomes easier when locations are created within controlled production environments. The Vizianagaram set, he said, has been maintained for nearly a year to allow shooting in different weather conditions whenever needed.
Even the cricket bat used by Ram Charan in the film was specially designed with realism in mind. Avinash explained that the bat was crafted to look like something a rustic local player would make using available raw materials. The hero’s body language and mannerisms were also carefully integrated into the design process.
Speaking about his bonding with Ram Charan, Avinash said the actor appreciated every major set created for the film, including the train setup, special song set, and wrestling arena. Visitors who came to meet Charan on the sets were also reportedly impressed by how natural everything looked.
Avinash also addressed Ram Charan’s injury during the film’s shoot. He revealed that the actor got injured while filming a wrestling action sequence. Despite the injury, Charan quickly returned to the shoot to avoid delays and scheduling issues involving multiple artists.
Calling Peddi a “one-of-its-kind” film, Avinash said audiences will leave theatres emotionally moved. He believes viewers will strongly connect with the journey and emotions of the story. He also mentioned that filmmaker Sukumar recently stated that Ram Charan’s performance in Peddi could surpass even his celebrated role in Rangasthalam, mainly because of the emotional strength of the script.
Avinash concluded the interaction by revealing that he is also working on Paradise and an upcoming film starring megastar Chiranjeevi.