‘Swayambhu’ director recollects crew getting stranded on hill during forest sequence shoot

Mumbai, May 8 Director Bharat Krishnamachari, who has helmed the upcoming film ‘Swayambhu’, has shared the scary details of one of the film’s schedules.

The director shared that the live-action sequences of the film were shot in the forests of Maredumilli, near Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, where the forest sequences of the Allu Arjun-starrer ‘Pushpa’ were also filmed.

Talking about the same, he said, “For the live-action portions, we chose to shoot in the forests of Maredumilli, near Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, the same region where the forest sequences of Pushpa were filmed. However, we made a conscious effort to explore untouched locations where no shooting had taken place before. Reaching these spots was an adventure in itself. We had to travel by jeeps for nearly 2 to 2.5 hours just to get to the mountain tops”.

“During one such schedule, unexpected rains hit us, and a part of our crew ended up stranded on the mountain without basic supplies for almost a day or two. Interestingly, ours was among the first shoots permitted in that pristine location”, he added.

Earlier, the director gave a peek into the expansive universe of the film, as he detailed the logistics behind the film, and building 2 massive bridges for the indoor sets of the film.

He earlier said, “For ‘Swayambhu’, we essentially set out to create three distinct, massive worlds across three different locations, all while keeping them cohesive within the film’s rooted, travel-action-adventure tonality. The first was in Janwada, Hyderabad, where we leased about 6 to 8 acres of land and built a full-fledged village set entirely from scratch. This alone took us close to 40 to 45 days, as we were very particular about the detailing and authenticity of the space”.

He shared, “The third and most ambitious world was the climax, which we shot over 70 to 80 days at Annapurna Studios. Here, we constructed elaborate indoor sets on a much larger scale, including two massive bridges one of which was specifically built to be destroyed”.

“This bridge was about 11 to 12 feet wide and nearly 100 feet long, executed using bluemat techniques. Alongside this, we also created a huge mountain set with a detailed pathway on one of the studio’s largest floors, allowing us to stage the climax with the scale and intensity we had envisioned”, he added.

Produced by Bhuvan and Shreekar of Pixel Studios, ‘Swayambhu’ is set for a worldwide release in Summer 2026.

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