09 March 2024
Hyderabad
In an exclusive conversation with idlebrain.com, first-time director Srinivas Gopisetti talks about leaving a central government job at ISRO to pursue his direction dreams, media stint, reason behind making Tantra, the research that went into the project, roping in Ananya Nagalla, shooting under challenging conditions, not assisting anyone, filmmaking inspirations and more…
Did you always wanted to be a director? Could you share with us your journey?
It has been my dream to be a director since my Xth standard. I come from a remote village called Mandasa, Srikakulam district. It is close to the Orissa border. I’ve been a topper in my school. Back then Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Varma films were popular. I was obsessed with cinema at that time but I never used to watch all films; I used to entertain only good cinema. I was fascinated by the posters of films. I completed my engineering in Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) and later worked as a scientist in ISRO, Trivandrum. But somehow I felt it was not the right profession for me. At the same time, I didn’t know how to get into the industry. I used to write blogs back then and I managed to develop some contacts because of the writing. I soon landed a job in the production department of TV9. From there, I went to UTV Entertainments, Mumbai. I got married later. I got back to Hyderabad and worked in STAR MAA and ZEE5. During my stint with TV9 itself, I wanted to be assistant director but it didn’t work out. I was told that assistant directors would not be paid monthly. Only a handful of directors like Puri Jagannadh were paying. I was living with my mother at that time, so I couldn’t afford not having a job. As I was feeling that it was difficult to make films, the OTT boom happened. Ravi, who is one the producers of Tantra, was a colleague of mine at ISRO. He did PhD at IISc, Bengaluru and later went to Singapore. Back in the day at ISRO, I used to tell him my stories and he would offer me his feedback. After the OTT boom, he pushed me to make my debut. We started a production house called Be The Way Films. As we felt we would be short on funds to complete the film, we started looking for interested parties. I’ve met 52 producers with Tantra story and one Naresh garu of First Copy Movies joined us. That’s how the film took off.
It must’ve been tough to leave a central government job…
I was rebellious in nature back then. I didn’t want to associate with something that I didn’t like. I used to get frustrated at times. Somehow I felt it was not my type of work. I tried getting into NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre), Hyderabad on a mutual transfer but it didn’t work out. Left with no option, I resigned from ISRO and joined TV9.
It’s been more than a week since Tantra trailer dropped online. What kind of reactions have you got so far?
The teaser and the song failed to generate the buzz we were hoping for but the trailer penetrated into the market. It got 23 lakh views so far, with 900 comments. There was a discussion on Instagram and X over the trailer. The buzz has been good, touchwood! The comments were like, ‘the trailer is good and we are waiting for the film’. It’s because of the trailer; Nirvana Cinemas is releasing the film in the US.
A film on Kshudra rituals is very rare. What led you to make the film?
The idea was to capture people’s attention within a small budget. We thought of a dark comedy to begin with but we dropped the plan, thinking whether the artists for our budget would get the comedy timing right. We zeroed in on horror later. Not many people know about tantric rituals, the mythology and legends behind it. There are interesting facts behind a Tantrik’s lifestyle. We wanted to touch such aspects with an interesting premise. In fact, AVM sometime back gave out an advertisement in the newspapers, saying that they are venturing into OTT space and they are on the lookout for content. I sent a pitch deck to them about Tantra but they seemed to have dropped their OTT plans by then. Since then I’ve been travelling with Tantra story.
Talk to us about the film…
In ‘90s, a Tantrik comes to a village in search of an 18-year-old girl. Why does he come? What does he want? The girl doesn’t accept the other side of herself, which she hides but to face the threat from the Tantrik, she has to embrace her negative side. What is her past and who helps her to face the threat forms the story. During this process, we will reveal some interesting details about Tantrik shastra.
What kind of research went into the project?
My childhood helped me a bit as I was a spectator to black magic practices in my village. I saw people using neem leaves on cursed humans to ward off evil spirits. People who felt that they would be prey to black magic used to erase their steps and walk differently. I saw such strange things, so I had a fair idea about black magic. Additionally, I read books and watched YouTube videos. Yandamuri Veerendranath’s Tulasidalam also helped me to write the story.
What was your actors and technicians reaction to the narration?
The male and female protagonists gave a green signal to the story immediately after the first narration. Saloni was particular about how I would shoot a particular intimate scene on her and after I cleared her apprehensions, she was in. The other actors got excited with the story, saying it was not run-of-the-mill. The technicians were fairly new and I saw a great deal of excitement in them.
What is the reason behind choosing Ananya Nagalla as the female lead?
I wanted a fresh face and given our budget limitations, I imagined Ananya for the lead role during the scripting stage itself. Through a friend Mukesh who was working with Ananya at that point of time, I got to know that she was a thorough professional. After listening to the story, he facilitated a meeting with her. Impressed with her role, she slashed down her remuneration to be a part of the film.
What is your main objective with the film? Do you want to scare the audience by giving them a fantastic horror experience?
It’s not a horror film per se. I wanted to tell an emotional story. The reason why I mentioned horror in the beginning is that I can make it under a low budget. My understanding is that if I make a pure drama film with small artists, nobody will turn up to watch it. It is the reason why I chose this genre. At the core Tantra is an emotional story. Like Ananya, there are five-six strong characters and they’ve got good character arcs. At the same time, the film will give a high every 10 minutes, so the audience will not feel bored. It will be like full meals.
You seem to have shot on real locations. That must have come with a whole set of challenges, right?
50 percent of the shoot unfolds during night time. And it’s tough to change the set ups during nights. Generally when it comes to big films, a maximum of only one scene can be shot during nights. Tantra being a small film, we had to work extra hard to shoot two to sometimes three scenes a night. At the same time, you have to use smoke in the background to give it a rich feel, otherwise the quality will be compromised. So night shoots are always challenging in terms of technicalities. We’ve shot the film in Tekulapalli (near Vikarabad), Jainapalli (near Bibinagar), Aziz Nagar and Yash Studio (near Chilkoor).
Talk to us about the making. How many days did you take to write the film, shoot and do post-production?
I wrote the screenplay in two months. The fact that I researched for the web series (for AVM’s pitch) meant that I could write faster. We completed the shoot in 34 days over two schedules. A couple of days went for patch work. Sound design was done by Jyoti Chetia, who was an assistant to Resul Pookutty. RR Dhruvan scored the music. He was the one who wrote Hungry Cheetah lyrics for Pawan Kalyan-starrer OG. The re-recording will give the audience a fresh feel. A couple of cinematographers worked on the film– Vijay Bhaskar, who was Madhu Ambat’s former assistant and Sai Ram Uday, who had done DFT from Adyar Film Institute. It was their expertise that helped me to wrap up the film in flat 34 days.
So you haven’t assisted anyone before debuting as a director?
I shot promos during my media stint. I had a fair idea about visual storytelling. Additionally, I’m a writer. Some of my stories got published in Sakshi weekly and other online magazines. That’s why I felt I didn’t need the experience of assisting someone.
Does Tantra have franchise potential?
It definitely has. We can do a sequel and a prequel. Work on Tantra 2 is already in progress. Even the OTT platform which acquired digital rights from us evinced their interest in the sequel.
What next for you as a filmmaker?
I want to dabble in different genres without missing the emotion. I want to do a romantic comedy next but I don’t know how things will take a turn after Tantra releases. I also have an idea of doing a political social thriller.
Who are your filmmaking inspirations and what have you learnt from them?
My major influences include Balachander garu, Mani Ratnam garu and Ram Gopal Varma garu. I am a big fan of Balachander garu’s taking and his characterizations. With Mani garu, I like the way he composes a scene and the way he uses dialogues. His dialogues are completely different from other films. He will not go overboard with emotion. He just narrates what is necessary. With RGV garu, I like the intensity in his films and his thought process.
-NAGARAJ GOUD
