A brief background of yours?
I am born and brought up in Bhimavaram and completed my degree over there. Then I went to Ongole to complete my MBA. I joined an ad agency in Hyderabad and worked for over six years. I worked for Lok Satta ad campaign, TDP Janma Bhoomi and BJP election campaigns. I also worked for Apollo Hospital ad campaign and Dr. Reddy’s corporate films. I got bored of my work and took a break for eight months.

That is when I got a call from Trivikram who was my classmate in 9th class. It was in 2001. He asked me if I were interested to work as an assistant director for his directorial debut Nuvve Nuvve. I joined him.

Did you not try to come to film industry on your own?
No. I never had any aspirations to become a film writer or a director. And I used to fear a lot about Telugu film industry after looking how Trivikram struggled. He used to get up at 4 am and work till mid night. He did not have any personal life. I am not that kind of guy. I did not want to work after 6 pm.

What happened after Nuvve Nuvve?
I never knew what direction/writing is all about before joining Trivikram. I learnt a lot from him during Nuvve Nuvve. Later on I worked as associate director in ‘Ela Cheppanu‘.

How did you learn writing dialogues?
I worked in direction department for the above mentioned films. Later on, Trivikram had five sittings with me in which he taught me how to write dialogues. He made me understand limitations and parameters of penning dialogues. I also learnt how to write stories.

Later on I went to Usha Kiran movies to narrate a story and it did not work out. I met various producers with the same story. Some of the producers wanted me to direct that film and I was not interested in direction.

Why didn’t you want to direct?
I wanted to direct films after five years. A movie has crores of investment involved and I did not want to gamble with producers money without completely understanding the craft. If I failed as a writer, I could get more films. But if I fail as a director, it could be the end of my career.

Then I went to K Raghavendra Rao to narrate another story. He hugged me after listening to the story and praised that the script had a great commercial content. He had also given me some advance. Raghavendra Rao took his time to get the suitable director and meanwhile he asked me to work for his film ‘Pallakilo Pelli Koothuru’ in Suchitra direction. It was my first film as a writer. After the film is over, my script is kept on backburner.

VV Vinayak gave me an advance of 1 lakh. He asked me to work for Bunny film as one of the writers, though I did not ask for any credits. That is when I met Vasu in direction department. During the same period I got a call from Pawan Kalyan to work for Gudumba Shankar. I met Dolly during that time and he was penning story for Rasool’s Bhageeratha. I liked the team working for that film and joined them.

Then Vasu called me and introduced me to Dil Raju. He said that only two people could write dialogues for Bommarillu - one is Trivikram and the other one is Abburi Ravi. I was tensed as he was comparing me to Trivikram. When Dil Raju asked about remuneration, I quoted double the amount I usually charge. He asked me how do I justify that remuneration when my earlier film Bhageeratha flopped. I told him about certain scenes and dialogues in Bhageeratha and asked him to watch the film from dialogue writer perspective. He offered me Bommarillu film.

We worked really hard for Bommarillu for 11 months. I wroter 25 versions for the climax. And worked really hard on the dialogues written to Genelia when she was leaving Siddhardh’s house. If you observe the dialogues in these two scenes, they are consistently referring to the dialogues came in the earlier scenes in a logical way.

During the climax of Bommarillu, I got another call from Pawan Kalyan for Annavaram film. He already had two writers working for that film. He convinced me write dialogues for Annavaram though I did not want to work with other dialogue writers. Pawan Kalyan is the most admirable hero. He is peculiar too. He would not do a scene unless he is convinced about it. He has certain moral values which prevent him from doing certain scenes in films. There is one dialogue about ‘magatanam’ in the film. Pawan Kalyan refused to say that dialogue quoting that each and every hero in Telugu film industry uses that word. I convinced him that his fans would like to hear such dialogues from him.

During that time Sravanthi Ravi Kishore called me to work for Classmates film. I worked for that film for 15 days and penned the dialogues in 5 days. I think that film was wrongly positioned. Audience were not informed in advance that the Classmates was a thriller. They came to the theater expecting another Nuvve Kavali in Ravi Kishore - Vijaya Bhaskar combination.

Nagarjuna called me one day and offered me Don. I lapped it up as it is an honor work for a big star like Nagarjuna. I wrote some interesting dialogues in that film which were very well received by masses and fans of Nagarjuna. I accepted the Don film on 25 November and Mahesh Babu’s Athidi in January.

What are the projects you are currently working on?
I am working for Vijaya Bhaskar’s latest film with Tarun and Ileana in the main leads. Bhale Dongalu is the title under consideration. I am also working for Siddhardh’s next film in the direction of Dolly. The script work is going on now. This film will be launched in March.

Do you think dialogue writers are getting enough recognition?
I would give only 50% credit to any dialogue writer. The remaining 50% credit must go to the story writer. When somebody writes a story, they also write characterizations. Then dialogue writer gives a dialogue version to an existing story. I feel that a complete writer is the one who writes both the story and the dialogues together.

You said you did not like working beyond 6 pm? Are you still following it?
I followed it till Bhageeratha film. But from Bommarillu onwards my schedule changed. I used start work at 7:30 am and finish it by 2 am for Bommarillu.

You gave a time of 5 years for directing films. Is that five year term over?
Yes. I think I still have to learn a lot to direct a film. Direction is also about managing people. It is a hard task. More over, I am an emotional person. I should learn to balance my emotions before becoming a director.

How do you feel when somebody compare you to Trivikram?
If there is a good writer, he is compared to Trivikram. If there is a good dancer, he is compared to Chiranjeevi. I am very happy that way. He is my guru and icon. Lots of people try to imitate him, but only few people can come close.

Do you like any books?
I like Chicken soup for the soul series.

What progress did you make so far in the film industry?
My name came during the end credits in my debut film Nuvve Nuvve. My name appears first along with Trivikram in Andala Ramudu credits. I feel it as an achievement as me, Trivikram and Sunil are friends from Bhimavaram.

Do you have any suggestions for the wannabes?
Analyze yourself. Do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis before entering the film industry.

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