Y. Sunita Chowdhary
Anand Devarakonda’s second film Middle Class Melodies releases this November 20 and he is a lot more confident having used the time and space to improvise his work. In a brief chat, with Klapboardpost.com, he says the team worked like a start up on the set, figuring out what to do and what not to do. It helped improve things around him and he reacted to actors.
Also the parents of the lead pair are senior theatre artistes and their experience added great value to the script. Anand observed them keenly on the set and took in every expression like a sponge that sucks up a liquid. On the personal front, he made use of the lockdown to unwind, got a pet, and played playstation with brother, and watched films with family.
How did you handle criticism, what did you take from Dorasani?
It was a great learning experience, it didn’t work commercially but I don’t regret doing it at all. Being in front of the camera, working with all the technicians, figuring out the characters… I did it organically on my terms and that helped a lot for Middle Class melodies. I listened to Middle Class Melodies even while I was shooting for Dorasani. There was criticism in the sense, people spoke about nepotism but I didn’t let that affect me. I did take feedback. I spoke to my director Vinod of MCM, while doing the workshop. He liked Dorasani, he asked me if I was in a letdown zone because it didn’t work for me. I said no, and wanted to move ahead.
How did this film happen to you?
Tarun Bhasckar referred to me and he said there is this lovely script and I should do it, there is a lot of humour in it and it is a middle class story that people can connect easily. I have gone through all the hardships and beautiful moments of sticking together in a middle class family. I was convinced completely, and had no second thoughts. I am not here to follow the path that my brother has taken, want to do scripts that appeal to me and go with the flow.
In the first one, I allowed myself to be shaped and in the second one, I had to let go completely. Vinod and I were collaborating, figuring out how to play the character. I and Chaitanya (he played a friend’s role) would play out all the scenes and decide where to look for certain stuff and also for references. We looked for older films made by Bapu, references like Aakali Rajyam, Chiranjeevi sir’s films etc. Vinod is inspired by Jandhyala and Bapu and the flavor came through in the film. All our preparation helped in the making of the project.
You are one of the characters in the story?
For that matter, Dorasani was a love story of course, the production design was hard to achieve, trying to do something in low budget and it being a period story was tough. The cast and crew were debutantes and we were trying to over achieve, trying to make a classic while we took baby steps in the industry. Here the director also is debutant. The Cinematographer and I are from Dorasani, we are collaborating again. It is the script that attracted me, lovely, humorous and has so many emotions which is why I call it a melody.
How easy was it to speak the Guntur slang?
In Telangana, for example we say ‘Untadhi’, there in Guntur, it is ‘Untundhi’. When you watch the entire film, you’ll be able to figure out certain words which we normally don’t use here. The hero’s father uses phrases in the trailer like samudram yendi poyindhanta, some slurs and abusive words which are used very commonly. It is so colloquial, an everyday language from them. I see why people from certain regions connect to it so easily. I struggled in dubbing, and naturally Telangana was coming out and Vinod would correct me.
On Bombay Chutney:
I don’t generally cook but Bombay Chutney is a simple dish and its speciality is that it is not prominently seen. In some regions in Guntur, Bombay Chutney is a staple accompaniment. Raghava is a prominent character and everywhere you go, you see such characters. They want to break from a certain space and go elsewhere irrespective of what they do in life.. He works and helps his father and mother in a tiny tiffin centre. After a point of time, he gets saturated and wants to set this up in Guntur as he has the talent of making this special chutney. You see all these ambitions rampant in the city, mainly the youth will connect with it.
