17 June 2015
Hyderabad

Promos are the elixirs of movies. A 30 seconds promo decides the fate of a two hour movie. If the promo director catches the essence of the movie, then he can come up with the best of the promos making audience rush to the theaters to watch the movie. Vijaya Bhaskar is one such talented promo editor -Tollywood can ask for. This week's Idlebrain's Focus Light is on Vijaya Bhaskar, who is creating a niche in Telugu movie Promos.

My wonderful childhood
I was born in Chilakaluripeta, Guntur district . My father was employed as health extension officer and mother, a housewife. When my mother was pregnant, she went to watch a movie in a theater called Vijaya Bhaskar. It was one of the many theaters in our neighborhood. She liked the name and that's it, she named me after that theater. So, cinema has been in my blood even before I was born. My father traveled a lot due to transfers. So, I had the privilege to see and experience different schools in different villages. My mother was an ardent reader. She was so much into reading that she used to make me read too. I read Vennello Aadapilla when I was very young. I also read Maidanam by Chalam but never understood the literature at that age. So, I picked up fiction and non-fiction novels. But after I reached high school, I started reading books by Chalam. I was a good chess player too. After class ten, my father asked me to go to polytechnic as it would fetch me good job. I have an older brother who was then pursuing degree. So, my father thought polytechnic would be a better option. But my heart was in movies. So, I tried to negotiate with him to do DFT in Pune. But, he got me admitted in polytechnic in Gudlavallaeru college in Krishna district . Eventually, I finished my course and gave ECET and secured 201 rank. Now this has changed my entire course of life. We all thought I would get an admission in engineering college and it would be a cake walk for me. But fate had it, and the seats were taken by 199th ranker and I was left aghast. Though, I was little surprised by my fate, the 200th ranker, who was there with me in the counseling got pretty depressed and was visibly shocked. He was crying his heart out in the counseling office. After seeing him, my father thought I would too get upset and he treated me with some nice food, shopping and a mini vacation. After we came back to our village, I insisted on going to Hyderabad and try my chance in movie industry. Hesitantly, my father let me go.

Career choices
At that time, ETV was newly launched and I had my friends working for it. I tried my luck to be an assistant director with a couple of directors, but in vain. After being jobless for 6 months, my father insisted on coming back and made me join medical electronics. With a broken heart, I took up the job and pursued it for one year. One day, a friend of mine visited our house with an interview letter from ETV. My mother totally refused to let me go. But somehow, I convinced my mother that I would be back in a couple of days. My father supported me. I attended the interview and was offered instantly a post in technical department. Thus, my journey in Hyderabad has started. I worked in ETV for 2 years. Though I had a stable job with a good pay, my mind was always in film industry. But I couldn't figure out how to get into movies. So, as luck would have it, I realized there were vacancies in editing department in Prasad Labs. I never had any idea about movie editing . So, I practiced editing for 3-4 days and went for interview and was offered a job. Bingo! Though my parents were upset that I left a secured job for lesser pay, they thought something was in store for me. I worked very hard on avid and learnt as much as I could in the given time.

Luck by chance
One day our manager approached me and told me that Puri Jagannath was looking for an ad for Itlu Sravani Subramanyam. I told him that, I, in fact made two during my free time and he could see it if he is willing to. Much in dismay, he saw 2 ads I made for the film and was pleasantly surprised. Though there were minute glitches, the manager was more than happy with the product and offered me a good increment. So, my stint in Prasad Labs was quite fruitful. I made ads for Itlu sravani subramanyam, Idiot, Amma nanna tamil ammayi, 7 G brundavan colony, Nee manasu naaku telusu, Totti gang and many more.

Scaling up the ladder
Later, I joined tv9 as promo editor. I made many ads and promos for tv9. At that point, Teja directed Oka v chitram and was looking for promo director. I was approached by his team and I made ads for Oka v chitram. Then I did Hare ram, Tenth class, Adavari matalaku ardhale verule, Bangaram, Jai bhava, Mahatma, Kedi, Vedam, Anagana o dheerudu, Simha, Legend, Ala modalayndi, Prasthanam.

Change in Promo making ideas
Earlier, we used to make 3 minute ads, which had specific format such as song, fight, dialogues. But then, these 30 second ads came into picture. The trailer should be able to narrate a story in 30 seconds. When audience is watching the trailer, they should be able to understand what that movie is about. Also, concept movies are different from commercial movies. So, far my favorite commercial movie promo is Simha. I tried to create a flare with emotions. I don't change shots randomly and make the best use of the time. In concept movies, Prasthanam and Chandama kadhalu are my favorites. Chandamama kadhalu is very close to my heart as there are many characters with whom, I weaved the promo.

How do we make promos
No movie is final when it comes to me. I watch the whole movie and get the posters and stills. Because, the colors of the posters should match the promo theme. So, I make sure, I see the posters. People judge the movie based on the promo. So, the burden of making best ads has increased in time. Hence, we need to en cash those two precious minutes of audience. Initially the movie used to run for 100 days and then it shrank to 50 days. Now it is for 2 weeks. The movie should be able to make money in the first 2 weeks of its release. Hence the responsibility of the promos has increased tremendously. I cut a teaser and make sure it has the teasing elements of the movie. Then I make promos for the movies for 1-2 minutes. Then 30 seconds ads for new channels. So I make at least 15 ads for each movie. If the movie is a hit, we make more ads post release.

Trust between me and the directors
I work on my own as an independent promo maker. My company is called B Creative. People make movies spending 40 crores and send me the hard disk. Imagine the responsibility that is on me. I make sure, the hard disk is protected and the movie is secure. Hence, I work on my own by not giving any chance to misuse the hard disk. I can’t lose the trust of my directors. There should be so much confidence between the movie director and the promo editor. So, it is all about relationships and trust. I take care of their films and weave a promo with passion. I make 20-25 movies per year. I recently did kick 2 in just 14 hours.

My family
My wife, Sri lakshmi, is a housewife. Ours is a love marriage and we struggled a bit to get married. I always work during nights and stay with my family during day times. We have two children. Our son, Tapaneesh and daughter, Tapathi. We all go on tours and spend time together. For many, life is so mechanical and tuned. It is not always about money. By the time my children reach their 20s, I want to show them all heritage sites of the world. I showed them many heritage places in India and tell them the historical importance of each place. Now only few places are left here for them to see. Once I finish these, I will take them outside - around the globe. I want my children to grow as responsible citizen and I try my best as a father to shape them into one.

By
Swathi Sriram

Other articles in 'Focus Light:
• Vinay Varma
• Dr. Josyabhatla Sarma
• Sasikiran Narayana