Varun Tej’s horror-comedy Korean Kanakaraju is all set to hit theatres on August 7.
Directed by Merlapaka Gandhi and produced by UV Creations and First Frame Entertainment, the film stars Ritika Naik as the female lead, while Satya plays a key comic role.
Since a major portion of the film is set in Korea, Varun Tej had to deliver several dialogues in Korean.
While he said picking up the Rayalaseema dialect came naturally because he has friends from the region, learning an entirely new language proved to be a much bigger challenge.
Recalling the experience, Varun Tej admitted that memorising Korean dialogues was extremely demanding.
“I did not have that skill. Once the dialogues were given to me, I almost reached a point where I forgot about the acting itself. We somehow managed by practising tirelessly and sitting through the night to get it right. Speaking lines without even understanding their meaning is really difficult,” he said.
Satya, however, revealed the clever solution the team came up with.
Instead of delivering completely Korean dialogues that the audience might struggle to follow, Varun Tej devised a unique approach by presenting them in a Telugu-friendly style while retaining the authentic Korean flavour.
“If we spoke the entire dialogue in Korean, the audience would not understand it. Even with subtitles, not everyone reads them. Varun Tej cracked it by making the dialogues sound Korean, but in a way Telugu audiences could easily follow. He really solved a very difficult problem,” Satya said.
It appears that Korean Kanakaraju has found an innovative way to bridge the language gap, allowing viewers to enjoy the Korean setting without losing the humour or emotional connection.
The “Telugufied Korean” concept could turn out to be one of the film’s biggest attractions.