{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Nani and Srikanth Odela Recreate 1980s Secunderabad on Massive 30 Acre Set for The Paradise Instead of Using CGI",
  "summary": "Telugu star Nani and director Srikanth Odela opted out of digital green screens, erecting a detailed 30-acre authentic working-class settlement near Hyderabad for their upcoming film The Paradise.",
  "content": "Telugu cinema star Nani and filmmaker Srikanth Odela have taken an unconventional visual approach for their upcoming feature project, 'The Paradise'. In an era where mainstream cinematic spectacles increasingly depend on computer-generated imagery, green screen backdrops, and post-production digital visual effects, the creative team opted to bypass virtual alternatives entirely. To deliver a raw and tangible portrayal of 1980s Secunderabad, the production crew constructed a massive real-world settlement spread across roughly 30 acres of land on the outskirts of Hyderabad.\n\nMonths of Manual Craftsmanship Rebuilding a Bygone Era\nThe core narrative of the film revolves around the societal turbulence, labor struggles, and survival battles fought by marginalized communities during the 1980s. To capture the tactile reality of that difficult chapter without resorting to artificial digital environments, hundreds of local craftsmen, skilled carpenters, and masons dedicated several continuous months to manually building the entire set. The constructed neighborhood features unpaved dirt roads, weathered and crumbling dwellings, claustrophobic alleyways, and period-accurate street marketplaces. The painstaking attention to historical architecture makes the location appear as an organic, decades-old township rather than a temporary shooting stage.\n\nArchitectural Pillars, Interrogation Chambers, and Moonshine Breweries\nKey moments showcased across the film's promotional previews and teaser sequences were shot directly within this physical enclave. Production designers established several critical functional structures across the 30-acre expanse to support the storyline\n\n• Arched Brick Structure with Gymnastics Rings: One of the signature promotional scenes shows Nani's central character, Jadala, hanging upside down from gymnastic rings mounted inside a vaulted building. This complex was erected out of real brickwork utilizing heritage architectural methods rather than synthetic facades.\n• The Oppression Chamber: For scenes depicting the antagonist, Shikanja Malik, extorting signatures and forced thumb impressions from helpless laborers, a grim enclosure was fitted with authentic heavy timber planks, iron chains, and real metal shackles.\n• Illicit Country Liquor Distillery: Staying true to the atmosphere of the working-class settlement, the setting integrates an expansive illicit country liquor brewing operation featuring distressed tin roofs and hundreds of real earthen clay pots.\n\nAuthentic Vintage Artifacts Powering Performer Realism\nRounding out the detailed period design, the set features fully functional vintage jeeps alongside enormous wooden gateway entrances. Opting for sprawling physical architecture over digital backplates provides the acting ensemble with an immersive spatial reality, allowing them to anchor their performances directly in the tangible textures, grit, and emotional weight of the period setting.\n\nWhat this means for you\nThe choice to build a vast practical set over digital green screens marks a tangible shift in cinematic production and viewer experience.\n\n• For Cinema Audiences: Raw Visual Authenticity: Viewers will experience genuine period textures and organic lighting on screen rather than stylized computer-generated graphics. This grounded setting enhances dramatic immersion and narrative credibility during screenings.\n• For Regional Artisans: Direct Employment Generation: Hundreds of local carpenters, masons, and sculptors secured months of continuous manual employment near Hyderabad. It demonstrates how practical film production directly injects financial capital into local artisan communities instead of overseas visual effects vendors.\n• For Cast Performances: Enhanced Performer Immersion: Actors interact directly with tactile props, authentic brickwork, and real weather rather than empty green stages. This environment translates directly into more spontaneous, grounded emotional performances on camera.\n• For Industry Filmmakers: Renewed Faith in Practical Craft: The extensive 30-acre build reinforces the lasting value of practical production design in Indian commercial cinema. It sets a benchmark encouraging other filmmakers to consider tangible craftsmanship when recreating complex period eras.\n\nWhy this happened\nFilmmakers opted against digital visual effects in favor of a 30-acre physical set because the historical narrative demanded an uncompromised level of sensory realism.\n\n• Historical Setting Demands: Gritty 1980s Working-Class Atmosphere: The storyline centers around severe labor struggles and social marginalization in Secunderabad, an environment whose lived-in grime and raw texture are difficult to replicate convincingly via green screens.\n• Director and Actor Vision: Tactile Performance Dynamics: Director Srikanth Odela and lead star Nani prioritized organic acting conditions, ensuring the performers engaged with real architectural space rather than hypothetical digital objects.\n• Complex Physical Prop Requirements: Integrated Structural Elements: Crucial narrative settings like vaulted brick gymnasiums, authentic liquor stills, vintage vehicles, and oppression chambers necessitated tangible construction built by local artisans.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. What is the name of Nani's character in the movie The Paradise?\nNani plays a character named Jadala in the upcoming film.\n\n2. How large is the physical set constructed for the film?\nThe production team built the authentic settlement across approximately 30 acres on the outskirts of Hyderabad.\n\n3. What historical era and location serve as the backdrop for the storyline?\nThe film is set against the backdrop of 1980s Secunderabad and focuses on the struggles of a labor settlement.\n\n4. Who is the director of the film The Paradise?\nThe film is being directed by Srikanth Odela.\n\n5. What key structures were physically constructed on the 30-acre set?\nThe set includes a heritage brick building with gymnastics rings, an oppression chamber, an illicit liquor distillery, and massive wooden gates.\n\n6. What is the name of the antagonist who oppresses the laborers in the story?\nThe antagonist who forcibly takes thumb impressions and signatures from laborers is named Shikanja Malik.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/entertainment/the-paradise-ke-lie-hyderabad-men-taiyara-hua-30-ekara-ka-aitihasika-seta-nani-aura-srikanth-odela-ne-nakari-knpyutara-graphiksa-k-42261",
  "category": "Entertainment",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-03",
  "tags": [
    "The Paradise",
    "Nani",
    "Srikanth Odela",
    "Telugu Cinema",
    "Film Sets",
    "Secunderabad",
    "Hyderabad"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}