Y.Sunita Chowdhary
Writing isn’t just an art, it’s a business. When a story or a novel reads like a movie, your odds of attracting producers and selling the film rights increase exponentially. Making this possible this time are debutants Vinod Anantoju and Janardhan Pasumarthi. The director- writer plans dovetailed, their perfect sync between writing and directing you will see this week, but the only regret writer Janardhan has is that he can’t see his debut film Middle Class Melodies in the theatres. “I would have ideally enjoyed people laughing at my jokes on screen. This is a proper big screen film,” he states to Klapboardpost.com.
Janardhan Pasumarthi was very good in Math in school and college and once his Math teacher Kondala Rao who is apparently a friend to director Sukumar, remarked that Janardhan should try his hand at writing as well. That done, Janardhan has created a character and named him after Kondala Rao as a tribute. The character of course is real but the story is fiction. The writer is from Valaparla, his exposure to films was nil. Once a year he would get to see a Chiranjeevi or a Balakrishna film but that’s about it. His parents were academicians and hence there was no talk of cinema at home. While in B.tech, he was introduced to Bucchi Babu’s stories and turned into a voracious reader grabbing anything from Sri Sri, Chalam to Tolstoy. “I would visit the libraries in Bapatla and sometimes took books on rent and my interest in writing grew simultaneously. I and Vinod acted in skits, I would write small plays. I remember writing and staging one but it wasn’t good, we didn’t practise much. It was a good experience and a beginning though,” he says
A beginning of a great combination: There was no sudden shift to feature films, it happened gradually. I was introduced to short films. Vinod would do short films I was majorly into writing. We didn’t know each other then. After directing a short film, I understood that I should focus on writing alone, acting is not my cup of tea. We had a ‘centre for creative arts’ at college and when a senior passed out of college, Vinod coordinated it. We would attend cultural festivals in colleges in Madras and had enough time to pursue and hone our skills. Though Vinod wrote and directed all the short films, we never collaborated, we just did skits. In 2016 or 17, Vinod in a small level wanted to make a small film. All his short films would reflect the society and they were fantastic. Choosing the same genre, we chose a social awareness subject and got going. The result wasn’t good as the budget was small and the story scope was big. We thought of another two or 3 stories. Around the time we thought we should do a good story keeping the money issue aside. My subject was about a software couple who led a middle class life, their thoughts and behaviour. The title was already there, it was Middle Class Melodies. Vinod would write one story and I would write one and the idea was to pick the best. The point that I had written had more scope to move forward, his story also was good. Then we started working and moving ahead.”
Widening of the horizon: I was into full time reading. Books help in character development, a wide range of characters get introduced. In one book, we find 100 characters. We might bump into them or may not in such limited life time. We might meet thousand or two thousand people in our lives but in books we read and visualise zillion characters and so, subconsciously the point of views of different characters help us evolve. While we create characters next for a story or a film, we tend to pick from our experience, from people we meet, observe and see from films. From the books we read, we get a new and a fresh perspective and push the envelope far.
Importance of being on the same page: When we work with an outsider we have a completely professional relationship with him or her. If the person is a friend, it is a tricky situation. We have the liberty to call his work a trash but problem arises when you don’t meet the deadline. If we want to complete something in a month and it doesn’t get done, there could be a problem. MCM is an outstanding experience for both of us. I wrote the story and wrote the dialogues. Vinod and I wrote the screenplay in a detailed scenic order and after completing it, we approached the producer. We never went with a plot, got it approved and then worked on it. The major influence was the characters from our village. We added fiction to the middle class characters we bump into, in our daily lives. It is generalised and very real. Some real life incidents will definitely match but when it comes to the story, the situations differ.
The Guntur slang initially sounds very normal, it has nothing that stands out but you will be able to notice the difference in the way the characters converse. If you stay in Guntur 30 to 50 days, you will agree that they use certain words frequently. After I narrated the point to Vinod, we would discuss the scenes. He was completely involved in the story and its progression. I gave him characters from my village, their characters, references, how Bombay Chutney is made. There are so many characters that we can make many movies with them. I remember there was a Deyyala Doctor (doctor meant to treat people possessed with ghosts) in our village. This is a proper contemporary story, we also have the Capital (Amaravati) references during elections, the mobile usage, how we watch movies etc.
Raghava and his goal: If you see the trailer, you will understand a perspective. Raghava wants to set up a tiffin centre. He is scared only to a point, after that he is ready to retaliate and not at all servile. He makes and thinks that none can beat him in whipping up Bombay Chutney. The problem arises that he is not being acknowledged and his hard work is not noticed in the village and hence wants to shift from Kolakalur to Guntur to put up a hotel. The customers in his village are those who come there to read newspapers, kill time and very few people.
The speciality of Bombay Chutney: Bombay chutney is a great accompaniment to Dosa. You don’t get that special taste if you prepare it in the house. There are certain people and their restaurants, the flavour, taste, texture, smell and all that doesn’t get replicated. Go anywhere around the world, oka chethiki unna value you won’t find it elsewhere. The same recipe, thadka, same ingredients and combinations but taste changes in every house. Raghava learns Bombay Chutney from his mother. MCM is not just Raghava’s story, otherwise it would be Raghava Tiffin Centre. Raghava’s friend Gopal (Chaitanya Garikipati) too gets to play an important role. You will get a feeling you are in a village and also that you are in Guntur city. Nearly 8 to 10 characters play important roles, Gopal has a love interest too. He has a proper arch and an evolution, his own story. He is crazy about horoscopes and owns a cell phone shop. He buys phones wholesale in Guntur and sells them in the village. He is also a one stop shop for all those who want to upload stuff and songs on their phone, and does repairs. Another big surprise is the role of a village president who happens to be Gopal’s Pedhnana.
Finally we ask Janardhan if he saw what he made, he answers in the affirmative. As a director, your task is to work with your writer, not to take their work and butcher into something wholly different. Janardhan pays glowing compliments to his friend Vinod for translating his vision to a perfect visual. “He did a fantastic job. That we are friends helped us, our point of views is similar, we get excited and disappointed with the same scenes and characters. We have a pitch perfect synch between writing and the visual. The way the father and son relationship has been explored came out subtly. Exactly the way I envisioned,” he signs off.
