Going the feature way

Tharun Bhascker on finding a producer for #Pellichoopulu,’ shooting in live sound and more...

If the promising reviews for his maiden feature film ‘#Pellichoopulu’ from private screenings are anything to go by then director Tharun Bhascker has a winner in hand. Having begun his filmmaking career by making short films, the switch to feature films was all but obvious. He recalls, “I started off as a graphic designer, designing posters for pubs. And once I got fairly acquainted with it, I got bored of it. I thought it wasn’t a form of storytelling.”

A farewell video that he shot during school made him to consider films. “It came out awfully but most of my friends liked it immensely. May be because it had their pictures, but the appreciation was like a pat on the back,” he guffaws, revealing that he was one of the few who felt that a film can be made on 5D cameras even before Ram Gopal Varma made ‘Dongala Mutha’ with 5D. “People laughed at my observation. An uncle said that I was blissfully ignorant of the realities of the world. But I was least affected by such remarks.”

‘Journey’ was Tharun’s first short film and in many ways made him realise the power and impact of films. “When I was occupied with the idea of ‘Journey,’ my dad had his first heart stroke. It was a big shock to me, which made me think what I was doing. I was like, ‘Will this short film earn me money? What happens if anything goes wrong with dad?’ I couldn’t even pay my dad’s bills at that time and I thought he wouldn’t take me seriously anymore in life. But when I met him in the ICU, he said, “Nothing will happen to me, I will be alright. You just go ahead and do what you want to do.’

The conversation lifted my morale.” Made at a cost of Rs 15,000, ‘Journey’ is about the conflict between heart and mind. “After ‘somehow’ finishing it, I was hesitant to put it up on YouTube but my friends insisted me to. It got decent views but the best compliment that I got was a picture in praise of it from a Kadapa-based orphanage. It read ‘the film is inspiring and we found courage and motivation through it.’ It was at this juncture that I actually understood what a powerful medium is filmmaking,” he flashbacks.

‘Journey’ was followed by ‘Anukokunda,’ which, besides receiving lakhs of hits and introducing the talented Ritu Varma, also managed to get screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2013. Noticing Tharun’s talent, producer P Ram Mohan took him under his wings. “There was lot of mentoring done but it was going in a complete different direction. Even he knew it and I politely decided to take another course,” he muses, admitting that the producer was keen on making a film with him. “He was busy with other projects and there was very little time for him to concentrate on my script. In fact, he wanted to juggle around a couple of projects but things didn’t go as planned.”

Frustrated at not getting a shot at his first feature film, the self-taught filmmaker has gone back to short films and made ‘Sainma.’ Impressed by it upon release, actor-filmmaker Lakshmi Manchu decided to invest in Tharun’s ‘#Pellichoopulu’ idea. “I travelled with her for some time but there were lot of ups and downs in this journey too. She is wonderful woman and guided me in the right path too but things didn’t work out from her end. In fact, from my end too! I wanted to start the film as soon as possible.”

It was through his lead actor Vijay Deverakonda that Tharun met producer Raj Kandukuri and Big Time Cinemas. “They liked ‘#Pellichoopulu’ idea and my previous films. Once we got the budget, shooting the film was a cakewalk. The short film experience helped me and my team big time. We completed the film as we promised—in 32 days and within the budget,” he exults about the film shot in live sound. “There are a lot of stereotypes that sync sound won’t work but I attribute such observations to the lack of knowledge surrounding it.

Just like we have different lenses, we have different microphones like ambient mic, condenser mic and shotgun mic that capture sound in different patterns. It’s just that you have to get your planning right.” As the title suggests, the film, set in Hyderabad, is about pellichoopulu of a guy and the series of errors that ensue. “It is because of the errors, the story unfolds. The principal characters are modern but stuck in a traditional environment and how they discover themselves and love is told in an entertaining way,” ends Tharun.

By Nagaraj Goud