He choreographed an 18-minute action block: Director Jyothi Krishna shares his experience working with Pawan Kalyan in 'Hari Hara Veera 'Mallu'—Exclusive

Filmmaker Jyothi Krishna, who helmed the recently released 'Hari Hara Veera Mallu: Part 1 – Swords vs Spirit,' spoke to ETimes about his experience directing the historical action drama starring Pawan Kalyan in the lead role.

The director opened up about working with the actor-politician.

On working with Pawan Kalyan

Calling it a "collective experience," Jyothi Krishna praised Pawan Kalyan for bringing more than just acting to the table. "Since he had directed a film in the past, he brings that directorial understanding to the table. He's not just a great actor; he's also a terrific director," he said.Pawan Kalyan was actively involved in the action scenes, even choreographing an 18-minute-long sequence himself.

He said, "Even with action sequences, he was deeply involved. In fact, he choreographed one entire action block himself. That sequence alone runs for about 18 minutes in the film. He's well-trained in martial arts, Kalaripayattu, and other combat techniques, so he's as skilled as any professional stunt master.

For that particular action portion, he handled the choreography on his own.""For the rest of the sequences, I did pre-visualizations, created animations, and presented them to him.

It was like getting two or three layers of approval. But once he liked something, he trusted the process completely; he never interfered or questioned it," he added.Despite his political stature as Deputy CM, Jyothi Krishna shared that Pawan created a warm and grounded atmosphere on set. "He made us feel completely at ease on set. It never felt like we were working with a powerful political figure; it felt like we were working with a regular, grounded actor.

That’s how comfortable he made the entire team feel," he said.

A moment of fulfillment

The director also shared that one of his proudest moments was watching the climax scene come alive. "I felt truly fulfilled, especially with the climax sequence involving Bobby Deol. It was a massive, high-budget climax that cost over Rs 15–20 crores. I'm really happy with how it turned out. We shot it using full CGI, with multiple layers and across different locations.

We even brought in two to three different stunt teams to work on it.

Seeing it all come together on screen gave me immense satisfaction. When you watch it, you'll understand exactly what I mean. It's something I'm proud of."

Exploring the period drama genre

Although known for films in other genres, Jyothi Krishna said he had always dreamt of making a period action drama. The 'Enakku 20 Unakku 18' director said, "Actually, I've always wanted to do a period action drama.

I studied in film school in the UK, and my interest has always been in action and full-fledged adventure films. But I never got the opportunity before, so I ended up doing romantic comedies and other genres.

This is the first time I've had the chance to work on an adventure film, and I was completely immersed in it."The director further shared about the film and the character played by Pawan Kalyan. He said, "Veera Mallu is a purely fictional character, but in the story, he fights against the historical figure Aurangzeb.

The title of Part One is 'Sword vs. Spirit,' where the sword represents Aurangzeb, and the spirit symbolizes Veera Mallu."

Working With MM Keeravani

The film’s music is composed by Oscar-winning composer MM Keeravani. The director praised his work and shared how music helps in the storytelling, saying, "We have around five to six songs in total; four of them are background tracks, and two are live dance numbers. For a theatrical audience, songs play a big role in providing entertainment and creating those 'hook' moments that draw people back to the cinema.

The music helps elevate the emotional core of the film.

For example, there's a song that plays during a fight sequence; it blends seamlessly into the action and enhances the mood. I'm truly happy to be working with M. M. Keeravani. He's an Oscar winner, and I'm very, very happy working with him."The movie, released on July 24th, has completed a 7-day run at the box office, crossing the Rs 80 crore mark in India as per Sacnilk. The movie also stars Nidhhi Agerwal, Bobby Deol, Nargis Fakhri, Nora Fatehi, Jisshu Sengupta, Sunil Varma, and Sathyaraj in key roles.