Gopala Gopala (2015)

Interesting facts

Gopala Gopala is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language fantasy comedy drama film directed by Kishore Kumar Pardasani. The film is produced by D. Suresh Babu and Sharrath Marar under the Suresh Productions and North Star Entertainment banners. It stars Venkatesh in the lead role alongside Pawan Kalyan in an extended cameo appearance while Shriya Saran, Mithun Chakraborty, Ashish Vidyarthi and Posani Krishna Murali play supporting roles. The film is a remake of the 2012 Hindi film OMG – Oh My God! which was itself based on the Gujarati stage play Kanji Viruddh Kanji which is in turn inspired from 2001 Australian film The Man Who Sued God.

Production

In early April 2013, the Paruchuri Brothers informed the media that they were in the final stages of acquiring the remake rights of Umesh Shukla's OMG – Oh My God! (2012) and that work on the script would begin afterwards. It was also said that Ravi Teja would play the role of Krishna in this film, originally played by Akshay Kumar, and that the official confirmation of the film would come within a week.

After much speculation, Suresh Babu confirmed to the media in mid-February 2014 that Pawan Kalyan would play the role of Krishna and Sharrath Marar would be co-producing the film with North Star Entertainment. After considering the titles Deva Devam Bhaje and Gopala Gopala, the latter was finalised just before its formal launch on 9 June 2014 at Hyderabad. Anoop Rubens was confirmed to replace Sohail Sen as the music director.

Venkatesh and Rajendra Prasad were initially reported to reprise the roles of Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal from the original. Venkatesh was later confirmed as playing the role played by Paresh Rawal and Vikram was approached for the role of Krishna. Pawan Kalyan was engaged for the same part later on. Venkatesh personally researched and purchased his outfits., incorporating a number of differently-coloured short kurtas into his costume.

Kalyan underwent a special diet and exercise to lose weight for the role in the film. Kishore Kumar said that Kalyan would be seen for 25 minutes, as in the original, but this was later extended to 45 minutes. Kalyan was slightly overweight before signing the film and followed a crash diet comprising milk and fruit, avoiding carbohydrates and oily foods. Reports stated that he would use a Hyosung GV650 Aquila Pro in the film.

After considering Nayanthara, Anjali, and Radhika Apte for the female lead, Shriya Saran was finalised for the role in early May 2014 after Nayanthara walked out of the project citing scheduling and payment issues. She called her role a "beautifully etched" and an "inspiring" one. Saran added that the relationship between her and Venkatesh in the film would encapsulate the central debate of the existence of God.

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