Sekhar Kammula...........

a MS post graduate in computer science from USA - had come back to Hyderabad in 1999 when every graduate staying in SR Nagar-Kukatpally belt was desperately trying for work permits and visas to fly to USA. He joined Citicorp as a software professional and spent around 20 lakhs to make his first film 'Dollar Dreams' that fetched him the most coveted National Award in the best debutant director category. After a gap of 3 years, he is back with a bang to make a complete Telugu entertainer 'Anand' with 50% funding from National Film Development Counsel. Know more about Sekhar Kammula with whom every techie who want to enter film industry as director could associate with -..........

Tell us about how Dollar Dreams happened?

I did my graduation in Mechanical Engineering at Osmania University, Hyderabad. Then I went to USA to do my MS in Computer Science at University of New Jersey. I am a hardcore movie buff watching all Chiranjeevi movies on the first show of the first day. But what made feel that I am capable of making films is that I could able to see things differently compared to others. I think I have a philosophical angle to my nature and the way I observe the things.

I spent so much time watching things and I am capable of seeing and analyzing things differently. Hence, I decided that I should enter the field of moviemaking at one point of time. I wanted to join a film institute in USA. But I did not have money. I decided that I would earn money and then join a film institute to hone my skills.

I do love the country USA absolutely. There is lot of scope to broaden yourself. I am not speaking about the power of dollar. One can make money anywhere and anytime. They have tremendous attitude. Whatever they like to do they would do it. They have completely different mindset. I always wanted to return to India because I am attached to parents and I love Hyderabad. So I set my priorities right. Do job. Earn money. Go to film school. And return to India.

I had a very simple life in USA so that I could save money. When I started saving money, I applied for a film school at Howard University. I wrote in the statement of purpose while applying for film school that I tend to think about the things which people tend to ignore when they try accomplishing the materialistic needs. And I love small things in life and enjoy watching the tender feelings exhibited by kids and thoroughly love the things showered by nature upon us. That's what seems to have impressed the Chairman of the film school. He called upon me immediately and offered me admission into institute. I wanted some financial assistance. But they made it clear that its not possible in any film training school. I was one of the best students in the class. When we made small films, there was no ego or hierarchy. We used to work collectively. I used to be the light man sometimes, cinematographer or editor while learning the direction of the film.

I did thesis in my final semester and I did my thesis on screenplay. I have chosen the subject of Anand as the basic story of my thesis screenplay.

Finally I got my MFA (Master in Fine Arts) degree. Its not a 6months course. It's a 3 years (60 credit course) master degree. I had two degrees in USA. One is MS in Computer Science and other one is MFA. After 5 years of stay in USA, I returned to India.

That was in 1999. There was a tremendous boom in software field. As everybody was going to USA to earn dollars, I returned to India to do a job in Citicorp. I slowly started meeting people related to film industry.

There was so much of exodus from Hyderabad to USA in 1999. My sister is a gynecologist. She told me a strange incident that happened in her hospital. A lady was requesting my sister to do a 4th month abortion to her because she would be going to USA a year later and she want her kid to be citizen of USA by giving birth to him/her in USA. I felt that it was heights of insanity. That incident really inspired me. And that's what they taught me in school. Chose the subject of your film from an inspiring incident. I did not think about budget. I did not think about marketing my film. I did not think about the total outcome.

At that point of time 'Hyderabad Blues' was released. That genre inspired me. I pooled up money from my savings and borrowing from my friends. We started a banner called 'Amigos Creations' (Amigos means friends in Spanish). We cast people who are new to film industry for the freshness. The characters in 'Dollar Dreams' speak in 3 languages (Hindi, English and Telugu). I registered the film as English film. At that time I was not aware that I would have got subsidy for the film if it were registered as Telugu language. By the time I completed 1st copy I spent around Rs. 16 lakhs. When I started marketing the film, the distributors were putting questions like 'who is the hero? Who is music director? Which language film is this? I was totally zapped, because I did not have any satisfactory answers for the questions posed by distributors. Still, I has tremendous confidence and guts to continue my mission.

Then I approached the management of Sangeet theater in Secunderabad and told him that my film is a film that people would love to watch in Sangeet theater. I asked him to have a preview show and buy it if he likes the film. But he is pucca commercial man. He said that he would rent theater at flat rate of Rs. 10,000/- per show and he was not interested in buying the film. I had to finally agree for it and I booked Sangeet theater for one show a day for 28 days. We used to go to all corporate houses and fore sell the tickets of the film. It ran for 4 weeks nonstop. Then 20th Century Fox people saw the film and agreed to release it nationwide. He asked me to dub the Telugu dialogues in English. Then we started spending money on other things. We got lots of visibility at national level. But the icing on the cake was National Award (Swarna Kamal) for the best debutant director. Since then things started rolling for me. I sold the satellite rights of the film. I have lots of rights unsold for Dollar Dreams. I am confident that one day I would be breaking even on that project. I lost around 4-5 lakhs on Dollar Dreams. But I am very much satisfied for all the things that happened because of Dollar Dreams.

After Dollar Dreams, I started meeting producers to tell stories. All of them wanted a storyline. When I told them storyline, they used to feel that its too simple. Then I used to give them bounded script of Anand. They used to read a few scenes and tell that its OK. But nobody came forward. Actually a script cannot be read in pieces. Just like you watch a film continuously in a theater for 2 and half hours, one had to read the script continuously from 1st page to last page at a stretch to understand the content and the underlying feelings completely.

How did you get the funding from NFDC for Anand?

I met somebody at one of the film festivals and he suggested the name of NFDC (National Film Development Counsel). I applied for NFDC. Earlier they used to give 100% funding. But most of the makers used to take 50-60 lakhs as funding and spend only 10 lakhs to produce inflated bills. Hence, they wanted to see some accountability from director as well. Hence they came forward to fund 50% of the project. I also liked that idea and I believe 'Anand' would start a new trend in Telugu film industry in terms of funding.

Tell about the casting in Anand?

I felt that artist Raja has sharp looks and good smile. He is also a method actor. He does not have any melodrama in his acting. When I personally met him, I came to know that he had formal training in Florida as an actor. I am also impressed by the passion he has for cinema. He trusts my abilities as a director. Its nice to work with an actor who trusts you than the actor who is more interested in number of songs and locations of the songs.

We cast all non-established actors as character artists in Anand. We have been in this process for the past 3 months. Casting the heroines is a big problem. We went to Mumbai and Bangalore and could not get the appropriate one. Then I came to know about a Bengali girl Kamalinee. Did a screen-test to her and she is perfect.

Why did you chose to construct the set at a private land in Padmarao Nagar, unlike traditional outdoor studios like RFC and Nanakram Guda?

I visited RFC and Nanakram Guda and could not find the right place. I need a big house and an outhouse situated adjacently. I stay in Padmarao Nagar. Hence, I have more proximity by having the set here. Kamalinee is also put up in a house at Padmarao Nagar now. Raja would shifting his residence to Padmarao Nagar for the shoot of this film soon. We all are working on simple things with commitment for an effective result. I am not a typical filmy person. I am not used to studios in Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills. I want to get the things done in a simple way. 40% of the film's shooting would be done in this set. We have a very homely atmosphere in that set. I want to get out tender feelings from actors and transfer it on to the screen.

Why did you name your film as Anand?

The word Anand means joy. If I were to put a caption to this film I would have kept 'the way of life'. Because every film that is churned out today are having captions, I did not have any caption for Anand.

Being a different director, how did you fall prey to 6-song tradition for Anand?

Actually I wanted to keep a couple of montage songs in the film to advance the story. When I sat with Veturi I realized that I could see 1000's of expressions expressed as 2 words in lyrics. Hence we fixed upon having six songs in 'Anand'. All songs are written by Veturi. Veturi is known for efficiency in writing spontaneous lyrics. But he took 30 days to write lyrics for Anand.

Tell us about the music?

I went back to old songs. Its not that we copied any old songs. But we implanted the flavor we find in golden oldies in this film. They also elevate lyrical value. I am writing dialogues myself because I want the dialogues to be natural.

Who is your favorite actor, actress and director?

I am great fan of Chiranjeevi since my childhood. Bapu is my favorite film director. I like Tabu a lot. She has great histrionic abilities and sensuality. When I searched for a heroine for Anand, I told the people that I was looking for a junior Tabu.

Did you get any appreciation from regular Telugu filmmakers?

When we held that Anand's pressmeet, director Krishnavamsi called me and wished all the best and told a few good words. It was a wonderful moment for me.

Are you feeling tensed because you are making movie by putting your hard-earned money?

No. I am feeling secured, because I have my job of software profession in tact. I took vacation from my company and working over this project.

If Anand becomes a hit, would you continue as a full fledged director?

I prefer staying the way I am now. I don't want to churn out continuous films just because my film has become hit. I would prefect to encourage people who worked in my direction departments. I would produce films by making them directors.

How did you come to know about idlebrain?

I guess every Telugu software engineer knows about idlebrain. All of us surf idlebrain in every first hour of our day in office. I find the name idlebrain very catchy. Idlebrain is very up-to-date and current. But I don't know how you make money. I heard that big software firms in India like Wipro, Satyam and CTS firewalled idlebrain.com, which is a pretty good compliment.


Why did you choose to make Happy Days after Godavari film?
I have both sweet and bitter memories about Godavari film. It was a budget failure. I expected the market of my films to grow after Anand. Hence we spent around 7 crores on making Godavari. It did well in cities. But could not catch up with the B and C centers. Godavari film - though deals with the ambitions of youth - did not cater to youth crowds.

My nephew complained that all my films cater to women. He wanted me to make a youth film. I happened to go to my alma mater CBIT one day. It suddenly stuck me that we never had any genuine Telugu college film in the last one-decade that does not deal with teen love and college politics. I wanted to capture the freshness, first love, confusion, career ambitions etc we go through in our college days. I also realized that the students these days do not have the kind of attachment we used to have to our college in our student days. That is probably due to the change in the culture. I then decided to make a film that romanticizes college life. I wrote the script in one and half months.

Why did you title the film as Happy Days?
The best moments of everybody's life are in they college days. Hence I titled the film as Happy Days.

What was the next step after writing script?
I knew that I had to achieve two things in order to make this film work. The first one is to cast fresh faces and the second one is take permission from CBIT to shoot the film over there. I managed to get the permission to shoot my film in CBIT for free of cost. I ran talent search in Big FM and idlebrain.com and managed to get 7 out of 8. We had to cast Tamanna (an actress with experience) in one role because we could not get any right girl through talent search. We did not cast guys/girls who can dance and do good dialogue delivery. We have meticulously chosen each actor to suit the character.

How did you train these new faces?
I have the habit of distributing the bound script to each and every cast and crew member before the shoot so that they knew exactly whey they were supposed to do. But for these news guys, I gave only their part of the script. Each and every one of them would have done each scene at least 50 times before they did it in front of the camera. I am feeling lucky to get such competitive actors. They brought a lot of freshness to the film with their own styles.

Tell us about the characterizations?
These eight characters in this film are of different type - studious guy, nerd, confused guy, playboy, tomboy etc. All these characters represent different walks of life.

What is Happy Days all about?
Happy Days deals with the 4 years of undergraduate college life. The whole cycle one goes through while studying at college. This film is bound to have nostalgic effect on the moviegoers. Everybody will connect with it. This film sports a challenging screenplay. Happy Days is an event driven story. At the same time there will be conflict aspect in the film, which would sustain the attention of viewers till the last frame.

Don't you think introducing eight principle characters as main leads it self would take at least half an hour? How are you going to make sure that people get to understand four parallel tracks (between the pairs) running without causing any confusion?
For such a story like this, it is a challenging task to write screenplay and do editing. This film boasts of very strong screenplay and editing.

Who is your targeted audience?
I have a set of audiences who are familiar with my films. I would be getting more attention from youth for this film. Happy Days is an urbane flick.

What is the budget of the film?
3 crores.

The rumor has it that your made a table profit of around 3 crores?
(Giggles without saying yes or no)

Are you going to change your car now?
Yes. I would be buying Honda Civic very soon.

What are the number of working days?
100 days

How much of negative did you expose?
Around 2 lakh feet. It was necessary because I shot lots of scenes in the film in backlight.

What is the runtime of the film?
2.35 hours.

Where did you minimize your budget?
I had gone for corporate tie-ups. Our tie up with Pantaloon saved us a lot on costumes front. Location charges are free because CBIT refused to charge me. I did not use any fancy camera equipment except for the hawk lenses. The remunerations of cast are minimal as I signed new faces. All the technicians worked for a relatively less remuneration and gave their maximum output. It is like a collaboration of a good cinema.

What is the response for the music?
It attained unanimous good talk. But these days we find more people who listen to songs and less people who buy music albums. People got used for free digital downloads which are affecting sales in urban areas.

Three songs in Happy Days album have same tune?
It is like the signature tune of the film. If you observe carefully these three songs have same charanams too. It gives a brand recall. And it's not bad to have such signature tunes. Veteran lyricist Veturi once told me that Ghantasala's masterpiece Pathala Bhairavi has only one raga in the entire album.

What is the reason behind releasing Happy Days on 28th September in USA as it clashes with the most expected high-prints release Chirutha?
There are two reasons for that

1. My commitment towards my word: I promised my USA distributor that I would be releasing the film on 14, 21 or 28th of this month. He also booked the theaters. I did not want to go back on my word. When I discussed this with AP distributor Dil Raju, he suggested that we had to make sure that the gap between Indian and USA release should be minimal. Hence we decided to come on 2nd October in India instead of 5th October.

2. I am always supremely confident about my movies. I always show my film to the distributors before selling it. And I show my films to press by organizing previews before releasing it.

A few of the guys from USA tried to caution me that people would not watch more than one film in a week. I wish that people watch both movies (Happy Days and Chirutha).

Happy Days is a film to which you can even take your Tamil and North friends along with you as 90% of NRIs have engineering background. This film deals with a story happened in an engineering college. I am sure that Happy Days will cross language barrier in USA.

You released Anand film on the same day of Shankar Dada MBBS. Now you are releasing Happy Days on the same day of Chirutha release in USA. What is the reason?
For me, Chiranjeevi is an icon. He went against the wave to become what he is today. I am at the beginning of my career and I am also going against the tide. The release clash happens to be just an unintentional coincidence. I am sure that Chiranjeevi will appreciate my efforts as he too might have gone through these things in the beginning of his career. It is an uphill task for me.

I would like to tell you a small incident

What is it?
We released Anand film with five prints and Shankar Dada got released with 300 prints. The prints were done at Rama Naidu labs a day before the release. We had to send one print to Vizag and we got hold of a van driver and asked him to transport the print. He waited till mid-night. When we got the print out and handed it over to him, he was pretty much disappointed and asked us 'idi chiranjeevi cinema kaada'? We had to give extra money to appease him.

Do you want to say anything to the crowds in abroad who is going to watch Happy Days?
We are taking a huge risk by releasing Happy Days in USA first. I need everybody's cooperation to prevent piracy. If you observe anybody shooting the film using cell phones or other recorded devices in theater, please stop them. If you make Happy Days release in the US a success, there will be many more urban oriented films releasing first in USA.