Gamyam......

Celebration of a film’s long run, fifty or hundred in particular, has become a fad. More than that, it’s a dire necessity not only for the producer, but to the artistes. In fact, a movie’s true hit is not complete until it touches the last audience. None would have thought that a foreign-returned and debutant director Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi, nicknamed Krishh, will become a household name. He proved that filmmaking is the power to transform one’s dream as it is on the celluloid. His debut film Gamyam lifted the people of Andhra Pradesh from the hangover of Sekhar Kammula’s Happy Days.

Mere business chatter about Gamyam is a taboo, for various reasons. Gamyam, as a movie, registered its 100 days, in the theatres. There is no person in Telugu film industry who has not talked about Gamyam. Its silent release in a limited number of centers witnessed lukewarm response from the audiences for a couple of weeks. What started as a flickering flame soon turned into an inferno. The film flawlessly stirred the literary, academic, IT and many socially elite circles, generating a cool talk fit for a roaring public debate. Ironically, the film circles flocked the theatres as the last segment. Unfortunately, by the time the talk got spread to the B and C centers, the people there had already watched the film on their favorite small screens. Let us take it this way. They completely owned Gamyam and took it to their homes, watched it along with family members, preferably with kids. They didn’t stop with that. They supplied the pirated CDs to the neighbors. The retired, women and kids as one discussed it. Countless Tollywood biggies at various film functions made it a rule to talk about Gamyam. A star writer had even shed inhibitions to say that Gamyam was the first film which made him cry.

To be simple, Gamyam touched the hearts of the audiences rather than feast their eyes. You don’t find any oomph in the film, but a feel of purgation sweeping the theatres. More than anything, for the first time, Krishh has brought to play a peculiar nonstop-kind of screenplay. Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. The travelogue never halts. Each character, Abhi, Gali Seenu or Janaki – all seemed to have emerged from the audiences themselves. Most characters are not invented for the movie. Krishh selectively chose them live from society. Notably, the technical standards are not missed. This is what all about Gamyam.

It is a welcome sign that Gamyam-type of movies is declared the urgent need of Tollywood, with its just 5% hit rate. People who have watched and digested “this-type” of film will surely not like to watch our formulaic movies. No doubt, Gamyam has already set in motion a vibrant trend of traveling into hearts of the audience. Some enthusiastic directors are already on the job. Early layers of change can be expected in the coming months.

Sometimes, the kick of success can be poisonous. It not only kills the cells of creativity in a human brain, but also exposes the cavity of such minds to the audiences, sooner or later. But, Krishh is often seen freely moving with all and sundry, speaking chaste Telugu, away from airs. After all, he has discovered the roots of successful film-making.

Gamyam’s march is not complete with a mere 100-days run. It will go down the list of Tollywood’s evergreens.