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Sampoornesh Hrudaya Kaleyam distributor Raj Kandukuri - interview
Highlights
Sampoornesh Hrudaya Kaleyam director Raj Kandukuri, Humane, simple and high thinking – Producer and film maker Raj Kandukuri opened up in a candid chat with The Hans India about his latest films in the offing this summer
Interview – Raj Kandukuri
Humane, simple and high thinking – Producer and film maker Raj Kandukuri opened up in a candid chat with The Hans India about his latest films in the offing this summer – Hrudaya Kaleyam and Ladies & Gentlemen. Raj Kandukuri comes with years of experience as a producer in Tollywood and has a soft corner for struggling technicians.
Hrudaya Kaleyam, the much anticipated movie starring Sampoornesh Babu has created ripples in the social media and the audience with an uncanny actor material debuting with an interesting title. Raj Kandukuri bought the distribution rights of the film across Nizam and Andhra areas for a whopping amount, with a sole belief on the subject.
Here are the excerpts from the interview
1.What made you buy the distribution rights of Hrudaya Kaleyam? Is there something to the project that caught your attention?
I had always wanted to enter distribution; I share this empathy for small producers and the film makers who suffer trying to pitch the film to get distributed. I know this at a personal level as a producer, having suffered with my last five movies. Now I have that leverage to help small movie makers, I want to give them an opportunity to be judged by the audience first.
I want to take distribution for films that are made differently. When Steven Shankar, director of Hrudaya Kaleyam approached me, I offered to watch the film before taking a call. The film looked promising. It can definitely entertain for three hours – anti- climax is the best part.
2.Tell us about your film Ladies and Gentlemen as a co – producer
Ladies & Gentlemen is purely urbane. The story is all about Social networking and how it impacts lives – five stories to be precise within the movie. Manjunath, the director is very good with first film as a director. My confidence levels are high about both the films. Madhura Sreedhar has done an incredible job on this project; be it the casting, the skill set mapping with actors or the entire show. He pulled it off greatly.
3.What is your take on small to mid-budget making an impact with the audience?
Audience welcome any movie as long as there is entertainment in it – content is very vital these days. Even the big films fail when there is no refreshing content. Everybody, rural and urban, now look at great content and not the tags attached to the product. These films run in all centres when made well.
4.Have we come a long way the films are made? Is there anything that you see specific to Tollywood changing?
I see a very positive transition in the industry. The new talent coming in with wonderful ideas for films; the young blood demonstrate extraordinary skillsets in all aspects – writing, directing, cinematography etc., the trend of branding is long gone and even big stars welcome new ideas. The belief system around ‘newness’ has totally gone up. Unless that happens, there will not be that shift currently seen in Hindi and Tamil. Karthik Gattamaneni, Steven Shankar, Shravan are some of the new chaps I really admire for their talents. All of them have come from the Short films route. They certain seem to do well now within the bigger picture.
5.Sampoornesh is making waves in an interesting way. Why this special mania on social media?
Sampoornesh is a hard working actor; even he knows that the attention he is getting is purely out of curiosity and not hype. He knows what he is and the ridicule quotient prevailing about his entry. However, the movie will back him with the goods. He has done a commendable job with Hrudaya Kaleyam irrespective of all the speculation.
6.What about your plans to direct your film? Is it happening any soon?
Right now I’m busy encouraging new talent. I have penned my bound script in the genre of romance. I will get going with directing as soon as the time is right.
7.Are we out of typical ‘popcorn entertainers craze’ syndrome et al? Honestly, a lot of small films are getting appreciated by the audience.
Yes of course! We are so out of that limited gamut. This has become an open field for the aspiring players to come prove themselves. I have always lent my support to this pool of film makers. Audience has definitely changed its perception about the new age small budgets capable of showing good stuff on screen.
8.Any recent favourites in small films?
Yes, Venkatadri Express that was released lately was impressive. We need such creative level of experimentation these days.
9.What about the reality check? There are a lot of films shelved or not bought by distributors. Is this industry still controlled by the powerful forces above?
There will always be big and small players in any industry. As per the small films that do not see the light of the day; mere passion is not enough. The craze to make films is great but if you do not have the stuff behind the making, there is no use. Close to 700 films are now shelved. But a film with great script always wins against the odds. The hero of any movie is the script.
10.Any friends in Tollywood that you really feel close to heart?
Sirivennela Garu is my mentor and a critic; I always rely on him. D Suresh Babu is a friend who always helps me with advice and guidance. He is very honest about his views and that has taught me a lot. I learnt all my business ethics from him.
11.What is your take on struggling technicians in the industry? Any advice to them?
Never give up if you have the talent. Most technicians back out after the first failure but the ones who fight over and pass are the ones who last.
As told to Deepa Balasubramanian
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