Star Interviews
Sri: Tell me about your childhood. Singeetam: According to the English calendar, I was born on September 21, 1931 in Udayagiri of Nellore district, to Sree Singeetam Ramachandra Rao and Smt. Shakuntala Bai. However, my mother, who used to follow the Hindu (Telugu) calendar, preferred saying that I was born on the day of Vijayadasami. I thus celebrate both the days as my birthdays each year (laughs)! My father was a headmaster and my mother a housewife. Both my parents came from a very good educational background – my maternal grandfather was a district judge and my paternal grandfather was a munsif. ...Our family is not rich really but my paternal grandfather's was a well-off family and we thus used to go to Ooty, etc. in holidays. The good part is that my father was more happy than the rest of the richer cousins (laughs). My mother was very good at carnatic music and also used to play violin. Thus, from the age of three, I started singing along with my mother and at the age of six, I started doing plays like Lavakusa on stage. ...While in my fourth form, I had a typhoid attack that put me in bed for three months, and this period turned me a good painter too. I was in Udayagiri until I was four or five years old, after which we moved to Gudur. In Gudur, I used to see films in summer. Due to cold weather and rains in other seasons, they used to screen films in those theatres only in summer; there were no permanent theaters yet, but for touring talkies. I still remember having seen films like Seeta Kalyanam and movies of Rama Tilakam, Vemuri Gaggayya, and other such early artistes' films at that time. There was no superior equipment at that time but the recording was superb, crystal-clear sound without any echo, since everything was done on the sets during shooting (without dubbing later like we do now). Even now, we don't have such quality of sound, I feel... Sri: How did you enter the filmdom? Singeetam: I went to Chennai and joined in Presidency College, where I was learning theater arts under Sree Harindranath Chatopadhyaya while writing stories for magazines. When I watched films like Yogi Vemana and Bhakta Pothana, I decided to join as assistant director to Sree K.V. Reddy gaaru. After graduation, I went and met K.V. Reddy gaaru and asked him to give me a chance. He said that he doesn't have any immediate requirement or vacancy. Not knowing what to do, I went on to pursue my other passion, teaching, in Sullurupeta, while continuing to write plays like Bhrama and Anthyaghattam and got my students stage them to go on and win many awards later. Anthyaghattam is now made a textbook for students of Theatre Arts in Andhra University. Tanguturi Suryakumari is a family friend of ours and was a very popular singer and artiste at that time. She forced me to write Chitrarjuna, a musical play adopted from Tagore's Chitra - Prince of The Dark Chamber. (One of the precious moments was when Pt. Nehru saw our play in Delhi; the play was later translated into English by a Scottish dramatist Tom Buchan for an American television channel.) I used to be a freelancer to Swatantra and did interviews of Mary Seaton who wrote the biography of Eisenstein (and later-day biographer of Satyajit Ray too), and also wrote some small stories at that time. All this while, I was in regular touch with K.V. Reddy gaaru trying to see if I can join his team. Seeing my determination, and reading some of my articles in Swatantra, he finally said he could give me a try, and he asked me to write a screenplay for Oliver Goldsmith’s She stoops to conquer. I worked on it for three to four months and took back to him the complete script and dialogues, which impressed him. For the first time then, he took me into his drawing room and offered me a coffee and I was in cloud nine with that (laughs)! Sri: What's your first film as an assistant director? Singeetam: Though I started working for the film em>Mayabazar first, the film was kept aside for various reasons. Meanwhile, K.V. Reddy gaaru started working for the film Donga Ramudu. So I continued working with him for Donga Ramudu on the Annapurna banner. Thus, officially, my first film as an assistant director was Donga Ramudu though Mayabazar started first, and I was first credited as an assistant director for the film Pellinaati Pramanaalu, and I continued in his team for Srikrishnarjuna Yuddhamu, etc. © Copyright by Telugucinema.com
Singeetam: At that time, people only saw if the character suits the artiste or not. For example, when Srikrishnarjuna Yuddhamu was started, the film industry was entirely shocked as Relangi was not in the film! They wondered how Reddy gaaru can ever make a film without Relangi, who was the top comedian then and played good roles in all the movies of top heroes. One day finally, Relangi himself came to the sets and asked Reddy gaaru, expressing that it was injustice to have not offered a role to him. Reddy gaaru only said that he should come see the film after its release. When he saw the premiere on our invitation, he realized that Allu Ramalingaiah's role suited only him amd not Relangi and Reddy gaaru gave preference to only to character suitability. Similarly, movies like Mayabazar didn't offer any scope for good roles to accommodate artistes like Nagayya gaaru. He did act as Akrura in Srikrishnarjuna Yuddhamu. As you can see now, artistes were chosen only when the character suited the artiste, without wasting artistes' talent by choosing them namesake like they do these days. Sri: Apart from working with K.V. Reddy gaaru, didn't you even work with Pattabhi gaaru for the movie Samskaara? Singeetam: Yes, I was the executive director for that film. I became a close friend to Late Pattabhirami Reddy, as I was an assistant director for two films Pellinaati Pramanaalu and Srikrishnarjuna Yuddhamu, for which he was associative producer. His wife Late Snehalatha Reddy gaaru, liked this story written by the English professor U.R. Ananthaswamy, and showed to us. We discussed and planned to make the film. As Pattabhirami Reddy gaaru offered to be the producer and director and since he didn’t have directorial experience, he asked me to be the executive director. Girish Karnad, a graduate from Oxford, played the main role. The cameraman Tom Cowan and the editor Steven Cartaw were from Australia, and the music director Rajiv Taranath was an English professsor by profession, who had spent six years learning the sarod from the legendary Ali Akbar Khan. The film was a national award winner and stayed as a landmark in Kannada films. Sri: Tell me about the film Neeti-Nijaayiti, your directorial debut film in Telugu, or should I call it the "official" debut? Singeetam: As we succeeded in Kannada, I thought of experimenting the same in Telugu. The film did win critical acclaim but was a disaster at the BO. Sri: Though this film was a disaster, you made yet another art film in Tamil, in the form of Dikkatra Parvathi? Singeetam: No one came forward to make a film with me after my flopped debut, and I thus wanted to make a different film to prove myself. I thus went to a 95-year old Rajaji gaaru to seek permission to make a film based on his story. The general notion those days was that Rajaji hated films. So, when I met him, I told him that I wanted to make a film out of a story written by somebody who hated films. into a film. He snapped in reply, "Who said I hate films? I only hate bad films!'' and gladly gave me written permission to make my film – a memorable moment it was for the budding director I then was. This note written to me as a permission letter was the last document he signed; he passed away days after this happened. This film too was a national award for me.
Sri: Later too, you made musical hits like America Ammaayi, Panthulamma, etc. with Navata Krishnamraju gaaru. Tell me interesting things that come to your mind about these films. Singeetam: Navata Krishnamraju gaaru wanted to take a photograph with the lead artiste and the director at the beginning of the film, i.e. with me and himself on either side of SVR gaaru, but like I said, SVR gaaru was no more before the movie completed. For America Ammaayi, we chose a French lady who was learning her dance in Kalakshetra. Again, we took another photograph with her when the movie started. This time, after the first schedule was completed, she left to France without informing us, as her visa came to an end, leaving us in a shock. We then had to re-shoot the scenes again with another lead lady! When Panthulamma started, Krishnamraju gaaru again wanted to have a photo with the movie's lead artiste Lakshmi. After we informed her of the past two incidents, she found excuses to avoid the photograph even after the film was released (laughs). Sri: I heard that Panthulamma got an A certificate and was not a big hit during its first release? Singeetam: True! The film got an A certificate and was only an average fare at the BO, but when it was released the second time, it was a good hit. Raju-Rani-Jackie was the only flop on that banner.
Sri: I think you made most of your films with Kamal Hasan, starting with
Sommokadidi-Sokokadidi,
Amavasya Chandrudu,
Pushpak,
Michael Madana Kamaraju,
Vichitra Sodarulu, em>Navvandi... Love-andi!,
Mumbai Express, and each one was different from the other. Tell me your association with him?
Sri: What made you to do the mookie film
Pushpak Vimaanam?
Sri: Kamal is famous for his moustache before that film. Why did you get it shaved off for the film?
Sri: You never revealed the secret of
Vichitra Sodarulu!
Sri: You both were a good team, and the project
Bhamane... Satyabhamane! was announced to be made under your direction. Yet, your name was dropped later. What brought in the change?
Sri: Both these movies were inspired by Hollywood flicks, anyway!
Sri: You did try your hand at directing a film in Malayalam, but you never continued working there for more films. Did you not like working there or what? To my surprise, the production manager said that all the artistes already had their makeup done and were just waiting for me to come in! Not only that, but they also memorized the script before coming to the sets too! Such is the dedication of any Malayalam artiste in general ...I still remember it! I have not done more Malayalam films, true, but films like Panthulamma, Pushpak, Vichitra Sodarulu, etc. were dubbed in Malayalam. © Copyright by Telugucinema.com
Singeetam: When we wanted to sell Pushpak, we booked the Dimple theatre owned by Rajendra Kumar. The shows were seen by people like Bal Thackeray, Sekhar Kapur, Tarachand Barjatya, and others. Rajendra Kumar heard about it too, saw the film, and he instantly bought the rights for Mumbai. He was so impressed that he wanted to do a Hindi film with me, with his son Kumar Gaurav in the lead, alongside Madhuri Dixit. The film was average at the BO it was a good hit for its music by Anand-Milind. Later, I got offers for four or five films from the Hindi film industry. However, I didn't like the atmosphere, and more importantly the food. I just cannot eat food without rasam. I thus chose to not accept any Hindi films ever since.
Sri: You sang a song or two, like the titles song for
Michael Madana Kamaraju, ...and I think you also composed music for a Kannada film, right?
Sri: That reminds me that most of your Kannada films were with Rajkumar!
Sri: I heard that even a book was written in Kannada on you! Sri: Coming back to Telugu films now, you did Aditya 369, Bhairava Dweepam and Srikrishnarjuna Vijayam with Balakrishna... Singeetam: Even before the Hollywood film Back to The Future came, I was inspired by H.G. Wells' Time Machine and wanted to do a film based on time travel. I discussed the idea with S.P. Balasubrahmanyam when we met in a plane once. He was excited, and we approached a couple of producers, but no one came forward. Then S.P.B. himself presented it along with his friend Krishna Prasad. Balakrishna was very happy to do the role of Sreekrishnadevarayulu, which was portrayed appreciably by his legendary father in the past. Sri: What techniques did you use in the special song on Rambha in Bhairava Dweepam in order to show midgets around her while she Balakrishna and Rambha appears gigantic in proportion. An inspiration from Ron Howards' Willow, I believe! Singeetam: We didn't have much technology available at our disposal as we do today. We shot the song in two different blue mats. In scenes where Balakrishna or Rambha was dancing, we used small toys in the shape of the dwarfs, the montage of dwarfs was shot in another blue mat and we mixed them both. For Kabir Lal who did all of it, it was definitely a tedious job! Sri: Tell us more about K.V. Reddy gaaru! Singeetam: Again, that's enough content for another book! He's a genius... very serious and strict on the sets, not thinking about anything but the film. Once during the shooting of Srikrishnarjuna Yuddhamu, L.V. Prasad, Chakrapani, and Pattabhi were talking and joking aloud somewhere around the sets. He shouted at them saying it was not a fish market and demanded silence! We don't see anyone who's as strict, indeed! Another incident - it was commonplace for famous artistes to see the rushes after shooting a few reels, but Reddy gaaru never allowed such a practice. Once SVR gaaru called me to talk to Reddy gaaru to let him see the rushes. I went and informed him, he didn't said anything to me, but once SVR gaaru came on the sets, he advised the artiste to not hurry and that he could see it after completing another ten reels... the movie was already half-complete by then! SVR gaaru came back to me and smiled at me saying that he knew Reddy gaaru never changed his ways for anyone! There are several such stories I can talk of about my guru. Sri: How are the sales for your book "karraaju kathalu" that you published recently? Singeetam: All the published copies are already sold out and we even went for a second edition! I am now planning to write another book soon. Sri: Some time ago, you produced the CD Praarthana with 30 devotional hymns and Sloka-s on 23 deities, all rendered by children, with visuals and information on various temples and deities. Do you have more such plans? Singeetam: I recently brought out a musical album dedicated to Late Sree Saluri Rajeswara Rao gaaru. It was a novel idea where a line from Rajeswara Rao gaari old songs is attached to each of the present songs sung by eminent people like S.P.B., P. Suseela, Rao Bala Saraswati Devi, S. Janaki, etc. and written by Veturi, sirivennala Seetharama Shastry, Vennalakanti, Bhuvanachandra, and others. I also sang one song. Mr. Malladi Satchidananda Murthy produced the album which was titled challa gaalilO... with eight songs - it's my tribute to the great music director that Rajeswara Rao gaaru is. Sri: What next?
Singeetam:
I did a 2-D and 3-D animation film called
Ghatothkach in 7 languages, produced by Mr. Vinod Suryadevara of Sun Animatics and Shemaroo Entertainment. This was appreciated worldwide. This was shown in the recent Cairo International Film Festival for Children for which I was invited. Incidentally, the Karnataka government has awarded me the prestigious "Puttanna Kanagal" Award for Lifetime Achievement in Film Direction. Recently, I entered the field of acting by accepting an offer from director Gunasekhar for the film
Varudu starring Allu Arjun. I am on the script work of my next film,
Traffic Jam and a 3-D animation film
Eshan on the lines of
Paathala Bhairavi. At the age of 78, Singeetam is still as active as a 20-plus youth, which always astounds me! He is a recipient of several state awards from Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, and Karnataka, but it surprises me why he never got any Padma awards from the Union government, though he's an accomplished writer and film director, who also occasionally dabbled as a lyricist, music director, singer, and now an actor! We wish him all the best and best of luck for his future endeavours too.
Edited by:
NaChaKi
Related Links : Sri Singeetam Srinivas Rao profile © Copyright by Telugucinema.com |
