Cinematographer Vidya Sagar Chinta has turned director. His debut film Ashokavanam Lo Arjuna Kalyanam is releasing shortly. In a chat with Y.Sunita Chowdhary of Klapboardpost.com, he says director Ravikiran Kolla of Rajavaru Rani Garu has given the script. Vidya Sagar also worked as a DoP of RVRG and has been in touch with the director ever since. The latter narrated the plot to Vidya Sagar and he liked it and Ravi Kiran proposed his name as the director. Sreedhar Edhara and Bapineedu are the producers. “It is a village based story and Ravi Kiran asked if I was ready to do it and I said yes immediately. Direction is a completely different role. As a cinematographer we are in charge of a particular area but as director we have to handle and also extract output from the technicians. Handling the 24 crafts is a big task,” he says.
In the pre production all the planning from sketching to people’s management is done but as the day draws close, anything can change he states. He shares, “For example, we wanted an old style house and rest room in a live location. We got ready with images and we wanted to shoot in East Godavari. Then Corona set in and the delay followed and the logistics didn’t work out. We tried our best before the second wave began but a collective decision to safeguard the health of the cast and crew was taken and the entire shoot was shifted to Hyderabad. We saw a house in RFC and moulded the set to our requirement.”
Vidya Sagar says the output is very good and he is completely satisfied with the performances and the technician’s work; He states that he is really confident about the film, it will do good and also draw Vishwak Sen closer to the family audiences. “Ravi Kiran is the backbone of the film and the show runner. He helped me when I couldn’t get the dialect right. It is a story set between two families belonging to Telangana and East Godavari. Having worked on Rajaru Rabi Varu it became easier to direct the village story while taking Ravi’s help in getting the slang of Godavari right. The film was shot in 43 days. Arjun KUmar played by Vishwak Sen is a Telangana youth. He is aging and people are constantly enquiring about his wedding. There is a reason for this. He is a businessman in Suryapet and also not highly educated. He desperately wants to get married and is exasperated with enquiries. Having crossed 30 is definitely a challenge, none of the alliances are working out.”
He adds, “Finally does he find the right girl? Does he encounter any roadblocks and does he eventually get married? The cultural differences between the two areas are shown and it is highly entertaining. Ravi Kiran has done a wonderful job by writing the story that will attract all the segments of audience and the artistes too did a good job. One is sure to walk out of the theatres with a huge grin.” What is Vidya Sagar’s favourite moment in the film? “After a drink with relatives on the terrace, he bursts out. It is emotional and it comes after the interval. People will fall off from their chairs for sure,” he states confidently. The basic plot in the film is unique and hasn’t been dealt with earlier in Telugu films, it is inter caste arranged marriage and the reason is paucity of girls in the marriageable age. Society is changing rapidly, in the film..there is a song that shows a man goes through struggles every day and he should not get anxious for every small problem. As a man he proposes, he plans perfectly and meticulously but god disposes of the plan. Nothing moves without the will of God and what is due to happen will at some point.
Songs are written by four lyricists – Anant Sreeram, Senapati Bharadwaj, Rehman, Vijay Kumar Bhalla and Ravikiran. The camera is cranked by Pavi K Pawan, and the director wanted a village vibe that is apparent in Malayalam movies. It has added value to the story. VidyaSagar’s father is not alive to see him make his debut but he is glad that his family has supported him in this endeavour. Music director Jai Krish, Pravalya who is the production designer, Viplav is the editor..they form the core team.
