Speaking at the pre-release event of 'Valmiki', director Harish Shankar revealed that he met Pawan Kalyan just a few days back. Speaking further, he said that the conversation was about things other than movies.

"I met Power Star Pawan Kalyan garu one week back. He has loved the trailer for 'Valmiki'. We spoke about everything but cinema. He is like an elder brother and a friend, a well-wisher. If he talks with me for 10 minutes, he spends half of the time giving me the right kind of advices. He tells me to stay calm and do my work with passion. He tells me to never let success go to my head. As for doing a film with him, I would urge the fans out there to wish for it strongly. It will happen some or the other time," the 'Gabbar Singh' director said.

"I have to thank my discussion team (Madhu Srinivas and Mithun Chaitanya) for travelling with me for one year to work on the script. They have written the film's additional dialogues. When Bhaskarabhatla garu was writing 'Jarra Jarra', his mother passed away. He wrote the song nevertheless, saying that doing his work would give him consolation in times of pain. Lyricists don't get their due even at audio release events. They don't get to talk. I want to change it with this event. Mickey J Meyer (musician) and Ayananka Bose (cinematographer) are two of the film's pillars. Mickey's work on 'Mahanati' is my all-time favourite. Mrinalini Ravi is one of the finest actresses out there. Dimple, who has done a special song in the movie, is super-talented. She is a Telugu-speaking girl who is immensely talented. She will become one of the finest Telugu actresses. Pooja has a short role and you will totally love her performance," he added.

About the film's hero, Harish said, "Mega Prince Varun is extremely dedicated. He would always calm me down on sets whenever I used to get angry. He is the only actor who switches off his mobile phone once he arrives on the sets. He hasn't imitated Pawan Kalyan garu or Chiranjeevi garu because I asked him. He never did it consciously. It's in his genes. The story of 'Valmiki' takes place in a village on the border of Telangana and AP. Varun Tej spent one month on getting the Telangana slang right with his dubbing."