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Vamsy with Suhasini and Chiranjeevi on the sets |
Getting into the films:
We used to have some pages exclusively for movie-related information in
Jyothi monthly. We used to have regular movie feature and sometimes when the reporters were unable to send information on time or unable to attend some movie functions, I used to attend them on their behalf. Thus, I started interacting with film people. Also, some of the
Jyothi monthly serials used to be made into movies, and in that process, I used to get in touch with film people some more. Vijayachander is a good friend of mine and was making the film
Karunamayudu. He asked me to get a good PRO for the movie. So I introduced him to a journalist friend who was paid a Rs. 500 as an advance by Vijayachander. When I met Vijayachander after a couple of months, I learned that my journalist friend never showed up at work! I felt embarrassed and bad, and upon insistence of Vijayachander, I agreed to work as the PRO for that film. Thus started my direct involvement in films.
On becoming a producer:
I did the film
Rajadhiraju with Bapu
gaaru for Vijayachander again. On the sets, I saw a person who came everyday to see the shooting. He was a businessman - Mr. M.R. Prasad who had a business called Godavari Savings Syndicate in Rajahmundry. Once the shooting was over, he came to me and said that he'd like to produce a movie and asked me to join as a producer. I admitted that I did not have any experience, but he insisted saying that he did not have any experience at all, and that I was better than him. I eventually agreed, and that's how the idea of
Manchu Pallaki started.
On association with Sravanthi Ravikishore, Kranthi Kumar,
etc.:
After the flop of
Manchu Pallaki, I went back to my PR work for films. Meanwhile, Vamsy got himself busy with more films like
Sitara,
Anveshana, and
Aalaapana. When Sravanthi Films planned to make the film
Ladies Tailor, Vamsy introduced me to Ravikishore, who asked me to be associated with the film. That's how I stepped into the Sravanthi banner. From then on, we became a team and I did almost all films in Sravanthi banner.
With Kranthi Kumar, I worked only for a few films like
Swathi,
Agni Gundam,
Neti Siddhartha,
etc., but he was a good friend of mine and we were very close from the beginning. Later, I moved to Hyderabad and worked with Gemini Television for two years as a Project Coordinator. I also wrote the story for the film
Maharshi. The film failed due to miscasting, I could say, even though it had beautiful music and Vamsy's magic.
My association with Sravanthi continues to this day. My son, who had completed his education in USA and had come back, has worked as an assistant director in Sravanthi banner. He's now getting ready to direct a film soon for Mr. Ramesh who made the film
America Alludu. The film will go to floors soon.
