Sharmela Yalisetty is another budding Telugu talent, a production designer who has already proved her worth in Mumbai. She has worked for over 120 commercials for national and international brands and is associated with more than 32 films in Hindi and South languages. She hails from Pedapalaparru near Gudivada and has moved to Hyderabad for academics. In a chat with Y.Sunita Chowdhary from Klapboardpost.com, the young art director talks about how active and brilliant she was in academics but chose a creative field instead. Sharmela shares, “I got a good rank in aeronautical engineering but my parents didn’t want me to study in Delhi. They wanted me to be in Hyderabad. So in the third year of engineering, I learnt screenwriting from Tripuraneni Maharadhi. He is family to us. I didn’t like the concept of doing any kind of engineering and finally taking up a software job. After engineering I sent resumes to advertising agencies for content writing posts and I got drawn to the art department. The adrenalin rush was inexplicable and I knew I was getting closer to what I really wanted to do. I had great mentors in Mumbai and one fine day I was done and was ready to take wings.”
Sharmela believed that none of these technical skills, or in fact, anything that could be taught in a classroom, could make someone a production designer, or at least not a good one. She understood quite quickly that three things were necessary for any production designer to have: imagination, the ability to visualize and inspiration. The first two can’t be learned. You are either born with them or you’re not. So, if you’re not born with a creative imagination or the ability to visualize imaginary places, you can’t be a production designer, or at least not a good one. Inspiration, though, is something that everyone can have. Every creative person has their own individual sources of inspiration, but they all have them. Sharmela absorbed every bit of information she had studied and acquired in the field from experienced people and shifted to Hyderabad.
She says, “I was keen on showing what I had learnt and what I was capable of. Telugu advertisements didn’t happen those days and it was mainly films. I joined as an associate and co art director for Mahankali (Rajashekar film). At that time there were hardly any women on the sets but now the ratio is high in many departments and we can see the fair sex as stunt masters, choregraphers, designers, art directors and cinematographers. There is still some lag in the female category and it needs to be filled. I worked for Ookadathara Ullikipadathara, which was a Lakshmi Manchu production. I was one of the architectural designers for the ‘gandharva mahal’ set. Manoj offered Mr Nokia and that was followed by many. Four years later I resolved to be independent and do collaborations on my own. I was more into ad film making and did limited features. I worked for films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English films; eventually I wanted to be in the Telugu turf.”
Sharmela had a few cups on the journey. She continued as a ghost due to union issues, as she had a non local card and had to do limited projects. That dried up and networking wasn’t that easy though she wanted to improve on her PR. The art department work, carpentry or painting and its techniques was different from that of Mumbai and Tamil Nadu. She cites, “Output is the same but the path they choose to do is different, the choice of material is different, technique is different. To adopt that and vendor ship creation took time and there was no place for other things. It was a loop. Once one project got over, another would be lined up. From the past four years, I finished 13 projects on my own. The first was Brindavanam adhi andaridhi by Sreedhar Seepana. It is being delayed. I also worked on an English film which was a bio pic of a musical person. Lakshya, Hidimaba, Shikar and SIN etc followed.
As a production designer, Sharmela is responsible for the overall look of the project. By working with the director’s vision, what the script dictates, what the cinematographer needs and requests, as well as practical locations and/or set builds she comes up with how and what the final project looks like. Sometimes this is very planned out and sometimes she works on the fly and comes up with solutions to problems. It is incredibly creative but also all about organization, management and problem-solving. She talks about the technical evolution in film making and states that life has become easier but ask her if the gender bias is still evident in the film industry, she is honest.
“There is constant development in the form of technology. Earlier there were formula and execution strategies and would take an entire day but now it is a couple of hours. Many changes have been happening and because of the advent of the OTT platforms, film knowledge is expanding. You can google and give options to the filmmakers but is this enough? There is always some upgrading. Learning process is done and now I am on the teaching side. I am training and executing interns. Is there gender bias? Is there any doubt? Definitely. Even if you come through recommendation, there is doubt.” Can she survive through hardships of low budget? She responds, “There is discrimination and it will take time to create trust. Here time is consumed and at least one and a half months in pre production goes waste. Once that trust is developed, there is no looking back. Budget and deadlines? I am good with budgets and experienced producers can gauge what kind of money is needed for a schedule. We give options, recycling ideas etc.”
She adds, “In the initial days of my career, I missed my deadlines but after that I never did. You have a date and you have to get it ready. We can’t risk it, we got to work. I got compliments for Lakshya and SIN and people said my designs were natural and neutral. People still call and enquire as to how I achieved those colors. I am selective and I believe that not everything is made for me. I too have my dislikes and likes. I am not into adult stuff and I have done a web fim Bhanumatmi Ramaksrishna. Post the advent of OTT, I have turned very selective. I don’t enjoy certain topics and commercial films.. I absolutely love it. I found my team and initially they didn’t want to take orders from a woman, and didn’t want to give equal pay as men. They also didn’t want to see a woman on the sets. There was a lot of non cooperation but later they began calling me. My assistants have been upgraded to set assistant and production assistants.”
