Hope is everything

Nagarjuna garu was ecstatic after the narration. He said that had he been younger, he would have loved to feature in it himself. He also advised us to get the casting, locations and musicians in place - Virinchi Varma

Not many aspiring filmmakers get an opportunity to collaborate with the likes of Nagarjuna, Suresh Babu and Ram Mohan for their first film, but Virinchi Varma is an exception. His first film ‘Uyyala Jampala’, which is making the right noise, had the backing of the three mentioned towering personalities, although it was not an easy task for Virinchi to get them to associate with the project. After meeting five producers who are were afraid to take a chance since his subject had a village backdrop and that he was adamant on fresh faces, he finally approached producer Ram Mohan, best known for producing contentoriented films like ‘Ashta Chamma’ and ‘Golconda High School’.

“It was my last effort with ‘Uyyala Jampala’ script. I had two other subjects with me and was mentally prepared to work on them had Ram Mohan garu not liked my subject. I almost lost hope,” says the director in an interview with Hans Talkies. Ram Mohan likes to read a bound script, but Virinchi insisted that he listens to ‘Uyyala Jampala’ script at least for 10 minutes before he takes a call to listen to the whole narration or read the script. “He was sitting on his sofa when I narrated him the first 10 minutes. I’ve asked him whether to go ahead or not? He said to continue as he lied down on the sofa. I proceeded with the narration. I was anxious whether he fell asleep or was listening. I interrupted him few minutes before the interval block but he said cheppu cheppu (go on). I realised later that he was imagining the story,” says the director who assisted Madan for films like ‘Pellaina Kothalo’, ‘Gunde Jhallumandi’ and ‘Pravarakyudu’. He adds, “After the whole narration he asked me where I worked earlier and what my favourite films were.

Our tastes matched as we both are hardcore fans of ‘Sagara Sangamam’. However, he never spoke whether he liked the script or not. He then asked me to narrate it to his friends who too liked it. He later said that he would give me an opportunity to direct the film if I prove myself with a short film. He gave me Rs 25,000. A month passed and he was worried whether I ran away with the money but he came to know that I was working towards the short film ‘Ninnati Vennela’. I’ve shown it to him and he was impressed. His friends too endorsed it.” Nagarjuna was the next one to hear the script. “He was ecstatic after the narration. He said that had he been younger, he would have loved to feature in it himself. He also advised us to get the right casting, right locations, and right musician in place.” However, searching for a suitable girl opposite the male lead Raj Tarun turned out to be a daunting task for the team. Virinchi initially knocked the doors of child star Avika Gor who couldn’t give him bulk dates.Undeterred by it, he went on for a hunt and auditioned almost 100 girls from Bengaluru, Chennai, and Mumbai but sadly, none fitted his vision. Some girls looked elder to Raj.

It was back to square one for him again. “We’ve decided to go for Avika again. We auditioned her and she fitted the role perfectly. She allotted seven days of every month since she was shooting for another serial. For one month, we got 13 days of her on the trot,” he smiles. After the film was ready, Nagarjuna was one of the first ones to catch it. “He liked it so much that he bought his whole family to watch it the second time. He said that I’ve shot what I’ve narrated to him,” avers. Virinchi believes the USP of the film, shot predominantly in places like Konavaram, Edurulanka and Mukteshwaram of Konaseema delta of East Godavari district, would be the rural setup. “Everybody loves villages and watching my film unfold, one definitely will identify with his childhood memories. The supporting characters are designed in a way that everybody sees their relatives in them. The story is old but I’ve treated it as naturally as I can,” concludes the director on a finishing note.