Movie Retrospect
Retrospect : Money (1993)
By
Jul 31, 2008 - 1:19:51 AM

Money (1993)

Technical:
Color
Cinemascope

Banner: Varma Creations

Cast:Chinna ... Bose Renuka Sahani ... Renu J.D. Chakravarthy ... Chakri Paresh Rawal ... Subba Rao; Jayasudha ... Vijaya; Brahmanadam ... Khan Dada; Tanikella Bharani ... Manikyam; Varuviral Krishna Rao ... House Owner (Renu's dad); Sharat Saxena ... Police Officer; Bhikshu ... Killer; Manik Rao ... Office boy;Uttej ... Yadgiri
Kallu Chidambaram ... Defense Lawyer

Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Nagur Babu (Mano), Chitra, Sri Murthy, Chinna, J.D. Chakravarthy, Jayasudha, sirivennela Seetarama Sastry
Lyrics: sirivennela Seetarama Sastry
Editing: Shivashankar
Publicity designs: Mallik
Choreography: Suchitra, Siva Subramanyam
Music: Sri Murthy (debut)
Photography: Teja
Associate Directors: Uttej, Ramana
Production Managers: Raju, Giri
Camera Assistants: K. Rajendra Prasad, Sameer, Shyam K Naidu
Co-Producer: Kalidindi Prasad
Producer: Ram Gopal Varma
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Siva Nageswara Rao

Songs:
lEchindE lEDiki parugu...
Playback: S.P.Balasubrahmanyam, Chakravarthy, Chitra
Cast: Renuka Sahani, J.D. Chakravarthy, Chinna

bhadram, be careful, brother-U!...
Playback: Sri Murthy, Chakravarthy
Music: Keeravani
Cast: Kota Srinivas Rao, Uttej, Narsing, Paresh Rawal

chakravarthikii veethi bicchagattekii...
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam
Music: Keeravaani
Cast: J.D. Chakravarthy, Chinna, Renuka Sahni, Varuviral Krishna Rao, etc.

paaDu kaburu vinagaanE paikam testaaDaa... (Parodies)
Playback: Mano, Chakravarthy, Chitra
Cast: Chinna, J.D.Chakravarthy, Jayasudha, Renuka Sahani

Wah, rE, wah! Emi face-u!...
Playback: Sri Murthy, sirivennela Seetarama Sastry
Cast: Brahamanandam, Tanikella Bharani, J.D. Chakravarthy, etc.

anaganaganaganagaa ananE lEdinkaa... (Song not included in the movie)
Playback: Jayasudha, J.D. Chakravarthy, Chinna, etc.

Story:
Two unemployed youth who kidnap a wealthy neighbor for easy money and then they find out that her husband wants to kill her for the property, and they eventually rescue her from his plans.

About the film:

• The film was a debut film as director for Siva Nageswara Rao. The film is such a hit that even after sixtreen films, he is still remembered as the director of Money.
  
• Now ace cameramen Shyam K. Naidu and Sameer Reddy worked as assistant cameramen for this film worked under the cameraman-turned-director Teja.
  
• Sri Murthy worked for only a few Telugu films such as Maa Aavida Meedottu, Mee Aavida Chaalaa Manchidi! afterwards.
  
• This is the first film for J.D. Chakravarthy as one of the lead actors. After this, he did One by Two along with Srikanth. He later got promoted to solo hero films with Gulabi.
  
• Production designers Raju and Giri later joined with Praveen and made films such as Kalusukovalani... under RPG banner.
  
• The film was remade as Love ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karegaa in Hindi much later by Verma's protége E. Niwas. Aftab Shivdasani and Fardeen played the roles of Chinna and J.D. while Saif played the role of Paresh. The Hindi version had a lot of changes though.

Siva Nageswara Rao speaks...

My background:

I come from a village Uppalapadu near Guntur. My father was a middle-class farmer and I am his only son, preceded by one elder sister and succeeded by two younger ones. Ours was a joint family and my paternal uncle had two sons and two daughters. I completed my X class in my village. ...From my VII class itself, I was fascinated by dramas and always want to direct my own plays. I acted as the Cultural Secretary when I was a student of intermediate; I've later done my degree from Andhra University as a correspondence course due to financial problems in the house.

After my degree, I started doing commission-based business, buying rice from farmers and selling it to wholesale dealers. With these profits and with other friends who joined me, we gave an advance of Rs.15,000 towards the rights of a film called Kanchi-ki Cherani Katha, but before the release, we had to pay another Rs.30,000, which we didn't have. So, we borrowed it as a loan from others with a condition that the lender would take all the initial collections. The film was, however, a disaster, and was a complete washout!

A person from our village was in Chennai and whenever he visited his native place, he used to tell a lot of stories about how he became big in film industry. He used to tell that he was very close to Dasari gaaru, but he never told me where he lived in Chennai. But, that didn't stop me from gathering information that he was working with Dasari gaaru. With that piece of a clue, and with sixty rupees in my pocket, I boarded a coal lorry from Uppalapadu to Chennai in order to save money, and I finally landed in Chennai. When I went to Sree Dasari's office, I realized that the person from my village was working as an office boy there!

I did not know what to do after my money exhausted. I even sold of my watch and did some extra roles in films like Burripalem Bullodu, Sannaayi Appanna, etc. I was paid Rs.100 for three days of work, but that was not a permanent situation since I could not continue even that without a membership card! For a while, I worked as an assistant accountant in a film company, assuming they may give me some break in films, but I quit the job there too, as they were not paying any money. Finally T.V. Prasad (alias Chitti) gave me a break. He gave me a chance to work as an assistant director for the film Ammayiki Mogudu-Mamaku Yamudu (made under Poompuhar Productions, produced by Karunanidhi's nephew), but that film was almost in completion stage by then and ended in 15 days after I joined. There, I met Taruni Rao who was also an assistant director for that film. Seeing my work there, the producer asked the production manager to pay me Rs.500 but that production manager made me sign a blank voucher and paid me Rs.50!

After that film, Chitti gaaru took me to Vijayanirmala gaaru who was shooting for the film Bhogimantalu and joined me there as an assistant director. I learnt a lot from Vijayanirmala gaaru and worked under her for the films Antham Kaadidi Aarambham, Doctor-Cine Actor, etc.. I later worked with V. Madhusudhana Rao gaaru for Jagannatha Ratha Chakraalu, with Lenin Babu gaaru for Maro Kurukshetram, with S.A. Chandrasekhar gaaru for Devanthakudu, Balidaanam, Intiko Rudramma, etc.. I finally started working for Kranthi Kumar gaaru with Swathi and was a part of his direction team for six years.

When Taruni Rao got an offer to direct the film Rao Gaarillu, I joined him too. That was where I met Ram Gopal Varma, who was also assisting him. I think that was his first film (Ramu also worked for the film Pratidhwani under B. Gopal.) While doing that film, Ramu offered me to assist him in Shiva. I gladly agreed and thus started working with Ramu. Between Rao Gaarillu and Shiva, I also worked with Rajendrababu gaaru for Prema Yuddham for a brief period but I had to leave when I left him upset by saying that he was wasting a lot of money. While doing the film Kshanakshanam, I told Ramu that I'd like to do an independent film and that I was looking for a producer. Ramu then said that he would produce my maiden film as a director. At that time, a Hindi film called Sauda was released, whose theme was an insurance scam, but Ramu suggested that I should do a film based on the English film Ruthless People.

Casting:
While doing the film Kshanakshanam, we had already chosen Chakravarthy, Chinna and Jayasudha for the film, but for the role of Jayasudha's husband, we first though of Dasari Narayana Rao gaaru, and Varma also agreed for that. Later though, I thought that it may not be a good idea as people might think that it was he who directed the film and not me. I was also scared that I might not able to handle the legendary director-actor! So, we dropped that idea and thought of casting Balasubrahmanyam; Varma even spoke to him and Balu readily agreed to do it, but then Varma said that Balu might have thought that he (Ramu) would direct the film and that he might get upset if he knows that it's a debutant. When Balu actually said the same, we dropped that idea too! I liked Paresh in Kshanakshanam and booked him for the role finally.

 For the role of the young female lead, we thought of Kaveri, daughter of the Advocate General in Chennai. (She recently did a character role in Sree Ramadasu). It didn't work out though, and it was Boney Kapoor who suggested Renuka Sahani as he liked her smile in the then-popular TV program Surabhi. (Boney Kapoor and Varma were a team for Raatri at that time.) I watched the program too, and with the help of Boney Kapoor we contacted her and she signed the film immediately. She came four days before the shooting and wrote all her dialogues in Hindi and practiced well. She was really co-operative all through...

Music:
Initially, M.M. Keeravaani gaaru was supposed to do the film. As he worked for Kshanakshanam, Ramu wanted Keeravaani gaaru for Raatri and Money. We even made an agreement for both the movies, and Keeravaani gaaru composed two songs ( bhadram, be careful, brother-U!... and chakravarthikii veethi bicchagattekii...) too. But, after Raatri completed, Keeravaani gaaru saw the rushes and said he was not comfortable doing music for a horror film as he would get distrubed in the sleep when he watches such films!