”For me, it comes from history”, Director Karthik tells the story behind the name Bheemasena Nalamaharaja, and what inspired it!

Amazon Prime Video recently released the much awIted film, Bheemasena Nalamaharaja across over 200 countries, as part of its Great Indian Festival on 29th October. Directed by Karthik Saragur, the family entertainer stars Aravinnd Iyer, Aarohi Narayan, Priyanka Thimmesh, Achyuth Kumar and Aadya in pivotal roles.

The film has garnered rave reviews from both, the critics and the masses alike, and has surely become one the Kannada hits, this festive time. Director Karthik Saragur shares some insights and shares, how the Indian history and mythology has always inspired him to tell new stories, and the story behind the name Bheemasena Nalamaharaja.

He says, “Bheemasena Nalamaharaja, a beautiful analogy of love, mythology and food. I come from a family of cooks and hoteliers. Even today, whenever there are huge functions like marriage or thread ceremony, in my family it is the men who cook the traditional meal. Recipes have been passed on from centuries and generations. I have grown up in that environment and in the beginning of my filmmaker journey I used to work at a restaurant for almost 2 years. I was a cook there because I didn’t have many projects to work on.

He further adds, “Cooking has a lot of activity involved, scraping, chopping, washing, frying. I wanted the characters to be cooked in a way so that the real flavour of the story can come. In this film, I wanted the characters to retain their originality but at the same time blend well with the others, just like ingredients do in a dish.”

On speaking about how he got the name of the film, he adds, “For me, it comes from history. In one of Dr. Rajakumar’s movie the protagonist’s wife suffers from a terminal illness, he volunteers to go and cook. His wife was taken aback by the fact that the man of the family will have to cook. The protagonist put out an argument saying that both Bheema and Nala, were men and great cooks too. That was a frame of reference for me and most of the Kannadigas know about this anecdote. When you come to Bheema and Nala’s life, Bheema during the period of his exile (agyatvas) he served as a cook and Nala happens to be the first food scientist in India. Both were legendary cooks but the other subtext behind that is amongst the five husbands of Draupati, Bheema was the only one who would to any extent to make Draupadi happy. Nala was the same too for his wife. This is the concept and subtext behind the name.”

The movie has made a special place in the hearts of the audiences, with it’s the perfect amalgamation of different flavours and emotions which is appealing to the audiences widely. The movie is being labelled as interesting, extraordinary and engaging- which proves how it is a must watch!

Tune into Amazon Prime Video and delve into a rich and fulfilling tale- Bheemasena Nalamaharaja, streaming successfully!