|
Tell
us about your background and how 'Aithe' happened?
 Tuni
is my native place. In spite of graduating from IIT Madras as
an Engineer, my father preferred to start a business in Tuni than
working in a company, as he wanted to be his own boss. With that
influence, I had a mind set that doing engineering and obtaining
job is not the ultimate meaning of settling in life. I have a
lot of fascination towards Sciences, especially Physics. If I
had done any hero worship so far, it's none but Albert Einstein.
I feel that he is a very creative person. I used to dabble in
physics subject and I secured 48 out of 50 in my CBSC examinations
(10th standard).
After
my +2, I got enrolled into Marine Communications course in Central
Institute of Marine Communications (CIMS) at Vizag. After joining
CIMS, I found the subject boring as they were teaching the same
old stuff about circuits, anodes, cathodes which I learnt in 10th
class. Still I continued and wrote my Morse code exam.
After
writing that exam, I came to Hyderabad. Gangaraju Gunnam is my
cousin. He is one of the best creative brains you could ever come
across. He is into creative fields. He is an ad-maker. He is the
founder of FONT greeting cards, which shook the greeting card
industry in India in a big way. He saw creative zeal in me. He
asked me to do designing work for those cards. I came up with
100 designs, out of which he approved just one.
At
the same time he entered film industry and produced and directed
a film titled 'Little Soldiers'. I worked as an assistant
director for that film. The moment I took up that job, I realized
that this is the place for me and this is what I should be doing.
I learnt many things while making that film ranging from production
to direction. After 'Little Soldiers', I had a period of
lull. Later on I worked with Gangaraju in ad making and did paper
design works for corporate offices.
 I
decided to work with outside directors, as there were no in-house
film projects. I approached Krishna Vamsi. At that time Krishna
Vamsi was making 'Anthapuram'. He asked me to join as his
assistant. At the same time, K Raghavendra Rao was appointed as
an Advisor for Electronic Media. He got hundreds of ad film projects,
which he was supposed to make for the AP Government. When I approached
him, he gave me a couple of small assignments. He was impressed
with my work and promised me many more projects. Then I had to
weigh the pros and cons. I decided to drop the idea of working
with Krishna Vamsi as an assistant director and joined K Raghavendra
Rao to do independent projects as director.
 After
that Gangaraju started a production house titled 'Just Yellow'
and planned to do a couple of feature films and 3 tele serials
per year. He asked me to direct a TV serial for him. I was hesitant
as I might get stuck in TV media if I accept that offer. But Gangaraju
convinced me by saying that by working for TV media one can gain
enormous exposure and confidence. I directed the first 10 episodes
of 'Amrutham' serial, which received pretty good response.
After that I got back to Gangaraju and told him that I was confident
of directing a film. He asked me to prepare a subject. I prepared
the subject and he okayed it. That's how 'Aithe' was born.
(read more about Aithe in postmortem
section soon)
I
think becoming a director is the ultimate convergence point for
any creative person.
What
are the films that influenced you the most?
When
I was kid, I used to watch lot of Krishna and NTR's films. I grew
up on a diet of Telugu films. I never had access to English films.
The only English films that played in our town at that time were
B grade soft porn films.
But
it was Geetanjali - a film by Mani Ratnam that caught my
attention. The first stunning film that had a huge impact on my
mind was Shiva. Mounaragam is the film, which I
saw more than 10 times (highest number for me).
I
liked all the films of Mani Rathnam except for Dalapathy.
I also liked Sekhar Kapoor's 'Mr. India'. I used to watch
all the films of Mani Rathnam and Ram Gopal Varma on the very
first day.
I
like Bapu garu a lot. If you show me any technician or director
in this world, I can confidently say that I can match them or
imitate them. But Bapu is one director whom nobody can match or
imitate. You can see lots of protégés of other directors
coming up in this industry. Can you show me one protégé
of Bapu garu?
A
Hollywood film that created a major impact on me is 'Life is
Beautiful'. He created such a beautiful character and took
that character close to our hearts and at the end of the film,
the directors kills the hero. I wanted to watch it for the second
time, but did not have guts to do so as I didn't want to see such
a heart-touching climax again. If I get a chance, I would love
to create such a character and take it very close to the hearts
of the audiences.
Other
than watching selected movies, I am not a major movie buff. I
am also afraid that I might get influenced if I watch too many
films. I want to retain my originality. (laughs)
Who
are your favorite directors?
My
all time favorite director is Mr. Gangaraju Gunnam. Apart from
his, i also have favorites like ....
Steven
Spielberg and Roberto Benigni - Hollywood
Ram Gopal Varma, Mani Ratnam (in his earlier phase) and Bapu -
Hollywood
About
Art movies
I don't like art movies. I strictly feel that making movie is
for commercial purposes. Watching an art movie is like listening
to a boring lecture in college. Just like good lecturers tell
the lessons in an interesting style, I feel that good moviemakers
should made films with an interesting narration.
How
do you direct a film?
Have
a simple storyline. Visualize it and transform it on to the screen
without losing the original thought and convince the audiences.
Show the audience the film the way you visualized it before going
to the floors. You have to be very effective in telling your story.
If people understand it, it's a good film. If they fail to, then
it's a bad film.
The
other day, Ram Gopal Varma showed me a few DVDs where some of
the best-made scenes are packaged into a DVD. Those scenes were
pretty unconventional yet terrific.
What
is screenplay in your opinion?
I
feel that screenplay should be like (a house made with) a pack
of cards. If you remove one card, the entire structure goes down.
Each and every scene should be well connected with the storyline.
Any
suggestions to people who want to enter film industry as directors?
Think
original. Be confident and stick to the basics. You can always
make different movies and make them commercial hits as well.
Tell
us about your future projects
My
Hindi film in Varma's banner is supposed to start now. But we
got stuck with the story. Hence I decided to finish directing
a Telugu film before directing Varma's film. Currently I am working
on a project, which is going to be produced by KLN Raju. I don't
want to confine myself to film direction. If I can get a chance,
I would love to direct documentaries for TV channels like Discovery
Channel and National Geographic Channel. I do not know how to
get in touch with them. If you guys have any contacts, please
help me out in this regard.
Are
you making your next film in Telugu with new faces?
The
hero and heroine in that film would be new. It would have other
regular character artists.
Tell
us about your age and marital status?
I
am born on 4th March 1973 and I am single.
Any
message for the visitors of idlebrain.com?
Since
most of you guys are well versed with the latest technology in
cinema and the making of Hollywood films, please advice me how
I should improve in my filmmaking by posting messages at IBDB
(Idlebrain.com Discussion Board). I am a regular visitor of IBDB
and idlebrain.com.
|
