We as children might have on many occasions in our childhood have looked up at the sky whenever an aeroplane passed by. The desire to know what is inside the plane and wanting to be a passenger has been common and strong for all of us. Siva Yanala has chosen a beautiful, touching story of this point, of a child wanting to be in the flight someday as his debut project. Vimanam is the title which is apt and sums up the story. Samuthirakani is the main lead and Anasuya, Ramakrishna and Dhanraj are the characters around whom the story revolves. In a conversation with Y.Sunita Chowdhary of Klapboardpost.com, director Yanala Siva talks of his initial days in the industry and the reasons that led him to pursue a career in the cinema industry. The director is from Yaddhalapudi ten kilometres from Karamchedu. He says, “Since Childhood I would write poetry, by chance I got introduced to a friend who was fond of films. Both of us eventually came to the movie field. People at home were worried about my choice but gave me the freedom because I was an only child. I did M.Sc computer science to give them confidence. I became an assistant director in the film industry later on but that was of no help to me. I was inspired by Chiranjeevi films, I would watch two or three films every day and would not miss any movie that came out in the theatres. I would cut the advertisement of the film in the newspaper, which would release shortly in the next few months so that I won’t forget to buy the tickets. I would go to the theatre at Chilakaluripet, it had around 12 theatres and I would see all the 12 movies. I would get bugged because it would run 75 days in each theatre and I wanted to watch new films.”
How did he get aware of his skill for narrating stories? “I would narrate stories to my friends, sometimes anecdotes. They said I narrated it so well without confusion and mentioned in particular that I would make a good director. Rasool, a friend, got transferred to our village. He would tell me what a story was, a script and screenplay is all about etc. He didn’t know much but whatever he knew he told me. I realised the need to read more books to gain knowledge. He said that only if there is input there would be an output. Johnny, another friend in the industry, had a huge network. I was writing commercial stories and he said not to do that and instead shift to unique plots that would attract the stars. I wanted to be a writer and a director but clueless about reaching the goal. Johnny helped me to a great extent. I saw films and understood the process. I like entertainment and humour and meanwhile a friend told me to take a look at the Jabardasth programme on television that was getting a lot of appreciation. He introduced me to certain people in the skit. I wrote a few episodes and showed it to Dhanraj and other actors. Dhanraj noted that I had good knowledge on scripts and enquired if I had stories. He said he would take me to those heroes who would suit the character in the story. I narrated one and Dhanraj liked it. I personally wanted Samuthirakani as the lead and Dhanraj fixed an appointment with him. We went to the Trident hotel and I narrated the story to Samutharakani. He loved it and he hugged me”.
The search now was to find a producer. The film has a slum backdrop and the colour tone of the characters was dark. The requirement was for a dusky actor who was around fifty or 60 and Samutharkani fit the bill. Siva didn’t zero in on Telugu actors because they were all familiar to our audiences and their complexion was far more lighter that was not suitable to the story. Also if the need arises, he could always make it into a bilingual. Siva visited Kiran Korrapati, the director of Ghani and told him the story. He then met Prasad of Zee Studios; he heard the updated version and didn’t suggest any changes and got the story approved by Zee studios. As mentioned earlier, it is about a young boy dreaming to fly in a plane. Siva shares, “There is a slum near Begumpet airport and the kid stays in the slum. Every day he listens to the sound of the airplane. I live in Balanagar and my house is close to the airport. My 3 year old son wanted to see the plane and get into it and I would tell him that he would have to wait till he grew up. He would then ask when that would happen. I would divert his attention and tell him that if he has dinner I would arrange the trip for him. The film has mostly conversations between me and my son.”
Siva Yanala states that he cannot reveal the conflict point, as it will give away the entire story. He finally says, “All I can say is a child’s dream to travel in a plane. The four artists live in the slum. Samtharakani does understand Telugu so there wasn’t any trouble for us as such. There is one song in the film, Chinni Charan is handling the music. We are working for a theatrical release. The film was shot at live locations near Saroor Nagar, near Rajendra Nagar. We put up a slum street costing 15 lakh in BHEL. I couldn’t find the topography that I had in mind so had to put up a set. The boy is Dhruva who played Junior Allu Arjun in Pushpa.”
