writing was an alien art form to me…

Till a few months ago, writing was an alien art form to me. It is something I am learning now.
I have always wondered about how people write so much, so well and with such precision.

Writing is one art-form that i am keen to learn and have begun the journey. I can say that I am grasping the nuances fast. I know there is a long way to go, but what is satisfying and motivating is that I can feel the progress in me.

Without a slightest understanding of what I was writing and by plainly expressing what I felt the moment i came out of a theatre after watching a film i realised that i had written a review. That was my first review, and what’s more, people are reading it, assimilating it and responding to it. I realise with every passing day, that when people respond to your thoughts, it’s a great feeling and it makes you want to think more…write more…do more….

So I will keep off loading my thoughts and experiences through my blog…and PFC…Please keep reading, responding correcting and complimenting……If it is Bouquets or Brickbats…..I will take it with a smile and cherish…

Satish.., still a long way to go buddy…..

http://passionforcinema.com/anishs-avakai-biryani/

http://passionforcinema.com/the-last-scene-of-kalyug-is-still-unsolved-for-me/

MAA recognises when the industry ignores

As the saying goes – Dair se aye durusth aye…. It is indeed a nice gesture on the part of the Movie Artists Association(MAA) under the leadership of Mr. Muralimohan to honour the National Award winners.

Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao felicitated us. It was a very emotional and a moment to remember my life long.

Getting an award is an achievement in itself’, but it needs to be recognised. Though the entire industry ignored the achievement, MAA thought it important to recognise.

From the bottom of my heart I thank MAA for the kind gesture.

I would also like to thank PFC for their kind words and compliments.

http://passionforcinema.com/hope-floats/#comment-226613

And the case rests

The dream which started in 2005 has been completed, on 2^nd September when the president of India gave me the National Award for the film “hope’.

That was a great moment of my life. It is a great feeling to achieve what I wanted to achieve.

The case is closed.

Now I am on to my next dream. A dream to make a commercially successful film, A film with lots of romance, emotions and drama.

I am on the job, will let you the details of who is producing, the cast, and the music. Right now I am busy writing the script, it is in the final stages… which movie… (Check the post dated 24th June – National Award)… Yes, it is the musical one.

One more dream, one more journey, one more frontier to conquer…. As I always say… I will…I will

There is hope for “hope’…

There is hope for ‘hope’…

Yesterday night on one sports channel, Rafael Nadal was giving a tough time to Roger Federer. On another sports channel Sri lanka unleashed an unknown weapon called Mendis. He was demolishing the so called strong Indian batting line up.

While millions and millions of people where watching these people executing a clinically planned strategies to win a battle.

A local channel was butchering a loves labor called “hope”.

Yes I am talking about my film “hope”. They were mercilessly destroying a National award winning film, just because they have a slot of one hour for a film. A film of 105 minutes length was chopped off to 50 minutes.

This slot might work with other commercial films. Because, even if they take off six songs, i.e. 18 minutes, 6 fights another 20 minutes gone. Minus some scene s taken off, still it will not affect the flow of the movie.

At the time of making the film some one said make it 100 minutes movie. I could not cut five minutes of my film to make it 100 minutes. Here they chopped off 55 minutes of the film mercilessly…

This film was being shown for the first time, after it won a National Award.. I thought if the whole movie was shown, people could have seen it, after all it was not a commercial venture… we wanted people to see this movie and react.. I felt the purpose was lost.

At the end, Rafael Nadal won.. Srilanka won… hope was butchered…..

I went off to bed thinking, there is still hope for “hope”

Two Questions…

It is three weeks since the National awards have been announced my phone is still ringing.. few still congratulating me… but it is mostly the near and dear ones calling to ask..

Are you getting any calls from producers?

What is your next film going to be? Again an award film or a commercial film..?

My answer is.. No… Things don’t work like that here in this (TOLLYWOOD) industry!!! Art film maker or an award film maker, you are still an untouchable till you give a commercial hit. And I am aware of the reality

I never ever expected that producers will call me if I get an award. So it is not surprising or disappointing that they have not called me after I got THE AWARD.

The Award will only help me approach them little more easily, than before. That is exactly how things are with me these days.

And the Second Question….

What is my next film…?

The answer is obvious, definitely a commercial film, this time I want the producer to get back his money (not that my earlier film “hope” didn’t fetch money, it will get more than that was spent, without a release). I have two scripts ready, one a thriller and another film based on music.

The film based on music is very close to my heart and I wish to dedicate this film to my gurus Mr.K.Vishwanth and Maestro Ilaiyaraja. I wish this film happens first.

Of the two scripts which one will come out first on screen only time will tell.

The National Award

It feels great to say I said it and I achieved it, “The National Award”. The cell phone has not stopped ringing.  well wishers are congratulating. The fact that I got “The National Award” has still not sunk in…But looking back had I not got the National award what would my fate had been..

After two days of the announcement of the award, a friend of mine sent me a statistics and said that what you have achieved is really special… a Telugu film getting a national level award after 18 long years. And the only people to achieve this fete were the legends, Mr. K Balachander for “Rudra Veena”  and Mr. K. Vishwanath for“Saptapadi”  in 1989… it feels great.. But no comparison what so ever, I am in the list of those names, period nothing more.

The responses to the award and the film were very positive. In retrospect was the film really great, did it deserve an award? Yes it was definitely a great subject , an important subject, a subject of the hour. I knew if this subject is dealt well in the festival format, then the film will surely get a award. And I thought I did a decent enough job with the script, screenplay and direction.

I deserve the award..

I want to thank each and every person associated with the making of this film “hope”.

Haranath policherla for producing, Aveena gudapati for helping me with the subject, Dr.D.Ramanaidu for believing in me and agreeing to act in the film, Maestro Ilaiyaraja for the Music. The cast and crew of the film, my friends who supported me.