palavancha

being in films... being among people. both compliment each other. a recent visit to palaavancha-a small town in kothagudem ( as a part of a felicitation the local theatre owners have orgaized) gave me such an experience. being a part of the society and interaction becomes most essential when you are part of a public art form. i would like to remeber this trip for a long time for the genuine appreciation that the people here have for good cinema and ofcourse their desire to support such art. i came to realize, how as people there are many who share a similar concern for good cinema and its impact one the society. sadly tough the organization running the industry sometimes tries to shove its views on the general public with the show of power. i will also not forget watching another very bad telugu film which i missed back in hyderabad. some very good theaters though with good sound and projection. i would like to do many such trips as it gives one a good understanding of how people look and understand cinema in the rurals.

performing before the master

its been one of the dream come true. performing before the master and our icon from childhood prabhu deva sir. The opportunity to be on stage and be a part of an event to raise funds became more cherishing with prabhudeva sir appreciating my performance. and ofcourse devi sri, thanks a lot for that song and your appreciation and cheers. you really rock! i could have done better but may be our rehearsals were'nt planned well. But over all teh moment the music began and the i felt the heat of the lights on stage i just remembered my school days when we used to do two to three shows back to back and wait for the applause. Here my first show was fort eh cause and the people witnessing it were in a way legends in the field. sai kumar sir thank you. your words mean a lot. ofcourse all my co participants rocked. i really liked NTR and balakrishna's performance. nani tanish shrwanand varun, raja shashank and all the others who joined hands.. my parents couldnt watch the show properly thanks to the inconsistent camera movements!. but being a part was more than anything for me and thanks to all who made it happen!

galaxy

sorry friends have been in the oblivion for some time. i actually was thinking the blog might have got deactivated for me not using it for so long! but yeah sorry and at the same time i think i needed sometime to work on something interesting. and i had to commit on it for my-sake.

i took up an interesting time off taking a writing exercise. i have been keeping myself away for a while now though been watching everyone write. i think i can write casually here as a blogger or make my speeches but writing for a film needs a special skill. suddenly i wanted to experience the madness of writing alone. i loved the experience of co writing with my friend hanumanth for 'iam famous' but that was like 8 minutes . so i began with this special story as an exercise to see where i go .. i got pulled into it for a while. driven by some moments that i started living. i still am. i think writing is self liberating and a magical experience. and also a realization of the kind of person you are. hats off to all those writers who chur out such vivid stories one after the other. my respect for each one of them has gone up million notches up. thinking of them churning up such ideas gives me goose bumps. but friends if ever you get a time take a journey writing. telling you it wont be a bad experience. write anything of your interest. if not anything you will realize how bad a writer or thinker you are :).. like how i did after finishing me first draft!!! god i need to improve in so many aspects and this is the main reason i keep telling my friends on their advice that i can not take up writing or direction not just coz its not my cup of tea but it needs lot more talent. we need to know exactly when and how to rise above occasions... but what it also made me is to understand the nuances of a script both while watching and reading them... so i gained a lot... and i would like to take this journey quiet often now...

anyways a very happy deepawali to all and i leave this time with some wonderful moments i captured on my cam walking through the streets this deewali!

belief or non-belief

gone are those days to unite as a community to celebrate this fascinating festival. A festival which as a kid i saw this interesting cartoon character named vinayaka and his intresting features which showed the true excellence of human creativity and loved him for his friendly eyes peeping through a temporary shack. I as kids loved watching tom and jerry mougli' and ofcourse the superman and spidermans' and for me the vinayaka was a live representation those days of this local superhuman character coming alive in the form of toy .. probably our own g.i. joe to hold them and feel powerful. The world was small. though the physical distances were large in the form of communication, we were close knit. the entire community would come together to get this p.o.p statue on the pandal and we all used to celebrate the reason for our existence looking at him. For me i still was fascinated with this colourful toy. i thought one day he would come out and dance and we would be able to lie down on his lap as he told us bedtime stores.

This photo was the last time i danced for a vinayaka chaviti. It was a colony get together and there was only one pandal across the colony park area. This pandal represented everyone. and we as kids were asked to dance to the latest tunes of chiranjeevi. Parents being liberal and ofcourse happy to see everyone clap for their kids never objected to anything. but it was only after the show when i went behind the stage that i saw huge cartons of liquor hidden under the statue. and it was only later when i asked mom and dad after getting back home that i knew that they were not the aerated drinks. It was later on one of those 9 days that we as kids walked down during the night along with our annaya's to prolong our holidays through nights that we saw most of the colony men merry'ing behind the pandal with liquor cards and biryani.

it is now after many years. the festival and the god still remains the same. though now there are many more creative and interesting ways in which peple have designed it to help them exploit. The main pandal has become bigger. but hardly any of the festival get together that we saw earlier as the people are split. the statues have now increased from one to about a 90 statues across every street. and each one competing with the other to erect much bigger statues which are monstrous p.o.p structures ready to be dumped into the already depreciating water bodies and eating away their existence. what began as a pray for our existence is now questioning the same. i keep questioning why do we need so many of them. why are we trying to put a pandal every road and dig up roads to impress god.and then if it is only to impress god they why are the flags of different political parties fluttering and owning the almighty. why are there vinyl hoarding of different age group of people with party symbols attesting the funding which dont look funny and cartoonish adorn every pandals entrance. there are enough people and enough reasons to pollute our surrounding .. then why in the name of god are we trying to do more. and the kids in my lane fight at whose pandal being the biggest and that they would get a bigger one next time. w will surely end up more next time. only if the recession hits us badly we will not stop for sure and those 9 days of inconvenience of loud music, road blocks and power cuts int eh name of god. Ofcourse i still am waiting for this lovely person peeping to be made now in clay and other natural products and infact create a robot out of it and it comes alive and really plays a Lori to all the kids and regains its charm!

and ofcourse please atleast for god's sake keep the gods; away from pollution. dont make him a reason or the cause.

back home after satti gaadi pelli :)

there are times you just feel purely eternal and feel you are blessed that you have a place like home. i am feeling that way after some very hectic and prolonged trips to a few untested soils. the trip to chennai was more official and I am so happy to have met such interesting people and discussed some pointers and thankful to those who have shared their valuable thoughts.
thanks fuchi, san, mani ( congrats for those good tunes :) ), aditi you people made me feel at home.

and then a more personal side of it being with the good old college friends trip to satti's marriage :).. wow what a coast sorry toast it was :)... sattigaa loved dancing in the middle of the road! for your marriage..and ofcourse dinesh kalyan shobu,sampreeti lacchi, chitti :) koumudi and vasu what a trip man i still have some beach sand in my chaddi..lol.. will rem this trip for long time. its one of those rare trips for me after college where i felt like a kid again but was sinking everything in through the trip coz i kow it will be some time before i can do this again it was fun watching you all hehe especially the laughing buddha!! my trip with him after medak :)..vasu sampreeti bargavi first for us!.. and dinesh wish to see your hair in plats next time in the truth or dare!..so guys we should do this more often now... lets find time or ofcourse get married soon and send some invites to some exotic locations...

for now i better gather my thoughts for my work and get going .. i was all the way traveling so no updates recently ... i have read many comments good and encouraging in many ways about the film.. thank you for all.. and i will definitely keep all the suggestions and try to see any possibilities to meet those in my next project. i might take some time out in the meanwhile.. keep me posted about what every ones been upto.. love and best wishes

first breather

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/19/stories/2009071957710200.htm

the ship starts sailing :)

KALA VARAM AYE MAAANDARILO!

what is life with out a dream and a dream with out a life...
for me this movie again affirms my belief on a journey that i have decided a few years back. its not about stardom or the praise but a beilef and an endurance... how long do you want to strive.. do you think you can?. why not? as the movie releases today i am ready to stand firmly on what i believed.. and wish to thank everyone who supported such thought..we are all on the cusp and walking a thin line.. learning a few and trying to unlearn many..

i wish and pray such effort mean a lot later on, to not just give fruits that buy us some boots but enough calcium to keep our bones going an extra mile! i dont know what this movie will bring to each one of us but it surely brings us an event to cherish and to move on to another step..
thank you satish sir for making this film happen in all our lives :)

i pray that it bring us closer to each of those film lovers

thank you for watching and thank you for avoiding piracy