Before ‘Leader’, I always said that I wanted to do an alternative film that follows a mainstream hero’s journey; ‘Leader’ was just that. I had a few reservations on the second half of the film and how the love story would play out eventually. As much as I loved the idea of the protagonist cheating a girl for the well being of the people, I just had a different view on how it could develop given the screen time of the film. I voiced it out, but being my first film, it didn’t matter to most. Not complaining at all, because I got all I wanted from the film, because Sekhar helped bring out my personality on screen in the most unique way possible, while the rest were hell bent on making me into an action hero.
So I finished Debut 1 – a Telugu film, which had a reasonably good reception both at the BO and with the critics. Then Debut 2 in Hindi ‘Dum Maro Dum’ came as a pleasant surprise to me, because after a Telugu film I was looking for a larger Telugu film or a bi-lingual (Telugu-Tamil) film ideally. So, in a way God blessed me with extra love and gave me a speedy second film in Hindi.
Then came the monstrous task of choosing the next script. Lots of script readings, lots more narrations, many stories waiting to be told some even went up to the 5th and 6th drafts and then got adrift in the script development process. Heard stories from almost everyone – top directors and writers to young and upcoming ones. Working with so many diverse kinds of people, I had lots of questions that I was unable to voice plainly. Similarly they had a lot of questions to ask of me “Who is he to ask us to change? What does he know? He’s only one film old… little more graciously though.I know I’m one film old and I don’t have the right, but surely do have the capability and understanding in terms of story development, screenplay structure, character graphs, that I’ve been learning for years now.
Key issue with most storytellers today is that many of them don’t write start to end,they start shooting before they have a full bound script; they work with shooting drafts or ideas and concepts and find the film in the process of making it. Works very well for them, but not for me.
I’d like to know what I’m getting into quite clearly and right from the beginning. Whether it works or not, if it works it’s great and if it doesn’t I clearly understand the mistakes I shouldn’t make in my next. That eliminates quite a few filmmakers from me.I first and foremost want a genre film. I fail to understand the term “Mass, Action,Love Story with Entertainment.”
I think, I can only handle one and maybe two of the above at a time. I often keep wondering where is the real cinema I grew up watching,I can’t find a ‘Pathala Bhairavi’, a ‘Gundamma Katha’ or a ‘Danaveerasura Karna’ an ‘Alluri Sitaramaraju’, a ‘Shiva’, a ‘Swati Muthyam’ today. The only thing that excites me in Telugu cinema today is to see the success of a variety of genres with films like ‘Arundhati’, ‘Yae Maya Chesavae’ and ‘Leader’ all being genre specific films and did commercially well at the BO. To me it’s fairly straight and simple – is the film engaging or is it not, do I have fun reading it, will I have fun doing it and finally will I have fun watching it. If I truly like it, I know they are a lot out there who’ll like it as well.
And another interesting challenge these days, which was never the case in Telugucinema, is the casting. Problem one, we have a very limited number of girls to work with who speak Telugu, second I am 6ft 3inches which means the girl atleast has to be 5’6 and above to make a good screen pair (Please don’t give me examples of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, they make a fab pair but I’m not Mr. Big B). And from the natural choices of that are available there is Kajal, Genelia,Tamanna, Ileana, Richa, Samanthaand others who fit my screen age but, their dates aren’t available till late this year or almost Jan next year simply because of the number of films they’re working in. Very happy for them but it’s not good for me.So hence planning a film schedule around these dates is almost next to impossible.
Another mammoth task is the budget that comes into play with me as the lead, there’s a clear limit to my budgets – my first was ‘Leader’ not ‘Magadheera’. And each story has a limitation for the genre it’s belongs; for example an action film can pull larger audiences than a simple comedy, a family drama can bring in more audiences than a thriller. And being a producer myself, more so coming from a production family, I’d like all;Producers, Buyers, Distributors and Exhibitors to reap benefits from myfilms.
Being born in Chennai and brought up in Hyderabad, I grew up speaking Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. So I am blessed in a way to venture out into cinema in different languages. And try to eventually grow to a sizeable market, to create all the stories I can, and with lesser financial constraints. Am working on it, let’s see how it goes. Since time is temporary but a film is forever, I want people to remember me in a film that I’m proud to have been a part of.
Comments
Post a Comment