Shankar Vissa has been in the industry for over nine years now, and directed a short film recently titled Aarambham. He says it was a demo but his intention is actually to become a full time director. He is currently working on the script of a Sree Vishnu film for which Pradeep Verma is the director. It is a police subject. Shankar had earlier worked as a writer in Surender Reddy’s films, with writer Satyanand, director Karthik Reddy (Adda) etc. In a chat with Klapboardpost.com, Shankar Vissa says, “The current education system is such that, no one believes it is meant to acquire knowledge. It is all about scoring marks, writing competitive exams and getting a job with a more than decent salary. My film Aarambham is a message to the parents not to pressure their children to study to get a job but instead enjoy and learn what is being taught in school and gain wisdom. The moment you stress on marks, the children treat the subject as a chore. If this situation continues how will the country produce scientists and researchers?” Shankar Vissa had seen the advertisements of colleges and private coaching institutes guaranteeing ninety percent job placements and fulfilment of parental aspirations. He finds that a farce. In Aarambham the father takes loans to educate his child and the latter is being reminded of it every moment. When the time to write a competitive or an entrance exam arrives, he goes under stress and forgets everything thereby failing in the examination. What happens next is an interesting lesson for the parents.
Rakendu Mouli who plays the protagonist in the film recollects the last dialogue in the film that implies that he doesn’t know if he can or cannot change his father’s thinking but he wishes to bring about a change in teaching, methodology and bring about wisdom. This will be the first step and that is why it is titled Aarambham. Rakendu Mouli says, “I am against Narayana and Sri Chaitanya institutions. I am astonished to see such educational institutions flourish in Telugu states. In Chennai our school timings were from 8.30 AM to 3.30 PM, after that no ‘ruddhudu’. There was none to put pressure on us. It is sad to see these coaching institutes making students study from 4 am to 11 PM. A man has a grasping capacity of three to four hours only. Memorising is not a solution. Education is for wisdom. We should not encourage children to memorise and recite like a computer programme and at that age get them thick spects.”
In most schools he says sports are absent and Math will be taught in PT class as the Math portion will not be finished. Mouli says he is lucky to be born in a family which gave him freedom to think and encouraged him to experiment and make his own decisions.
