21 September 2022
Hyderabad
idlebrain.com caught up with writer-director Anish Krishna who spoke about learning from the dismal show of Lover, Krishna Vrinda Vihari, working with Raadhika Sarathkumar, his writing process and switching tracks from humour
Filmmaker Anish R Krishna minces no words when he declares that Lover, his sophomore film, “just didn’t do well at all.” He admits to have learnt his lessons from the film. “Do what you believe in. It is good to take suggestions from seniors and others but if you are not convinced with them, better to overlook them. If you keep moulding according to others wishes, it means you are not doing a favour to the film or for that matter yourself,” he concedes.
“If you can’t convince a producer with your script,” he continues, “it is your failure. It is your responsibility to convince him.”
Anish observes that the first film’s success is usually treated as a stroke of luck by the majority in the industry. “Like many others, I even suffered the second film syndrome. If you don’t deliver a successful second film, naturally it affects the prospects of landing your next. But then I had a strong story with a good point. If you believe in a certain point, it will not let you sleep until you present it to the audience. That’s what happened to me. The point I dealt with in Krishna Vrinda Vihari (KVV) is actually the Lover point— the point which I couldn’t convince Dil Raju garu. I’ve just changed the genre while incorporating the same point. The film is a perfect mix of family emotions and youth-centric elements.
“It is the reason why I narrated it to Shaurya by myself. I’m generally bad at narrations; I usually take the help of my associates to narrate my stories. I gave a two-and-a-half hour’s narration to Shaurya. He liked it, prompting him to make it under his home banner. This happened in February 2020,” Anish recalls.
The story as a whole impressed Shaurya, Anish informs. “While his role drives the story forward, it doesn’t mean that he is the only active participant. Generally in Telugu films, everything centres on a hero; he is the active guy and has to do everything on his own in a bid to be heroic. But the beauty of KVV is that it is devoid of such stuff. The situations determine the way a character behaves. At one point, the hero becomes a victim. Raadhika garu, who is playing a crucial role, changes the course of the story.”
Shaurya was midway into Varudu Kavalenu and Lakshya when Anish pitched him the story and he initially eyed to commence KVV in June. But then, COVID-19 wreaked havoc, bringing the shoots to a grinding halt. He and Anish were tempted to start KVV as soon as lockdown restrictions were lifted one after another but with the makers of Varudu Kavalenu and Lakshya too determined to restart their ventures, the duo had to wait until December of 2020 to commence principal photography on the film. “I took the free time to polish the script further, mindful of the fact that if I work excessively on it, there is every chance of messing it up. I took suggestions from some of my seniors and ensured that the story progressed according to the graph,” Anish explains.
The experience he faced on his second film came in handy for this film. “There were some external factors that came in and moved the story here and there. I quickly realized that the story was moving in a separate direction, so I had to step in and change some things of the second half without disturbing the story, while respecting the apprehensions of the stakeholders,” he states.
KVV follows the story of Krishna (played by Shaurya), a Brahmin lad who is a good guy at home, sticking to all the traditions and customs that come with their community. Outside home though, he throws caution to the wind and enjoys life like an average youth. Afraid of his mother, whose diktats the village of Agrahara Gopavaram, West Godavari district, follow judiciously, everyone in the village treats him with respect and addresses him as Annayya. He studies in the village until engineering and is waiting for an opportune moment to leave the place and have a ball. His dream comes true when he lands a job in an IT firm in Hyderabad. His boss, a modern north Indian girl Vrinda (debutante Shirley Setia), soon sweeps him off his feet. “She is surrounded by north Indians who don’t let anyone in close proximity to her. While somehow he wins her over after facing a series of setbacks, the next step for him is to introduce her to his orthodox mom (Raadhika) and get her acceptance. It’s an uphill task, for his mother is critical of girls within the community,” shares Anish sheepishly.
Shaurya’s enthusiasm as an actor impressed Anish the most on sets. “KVV is his 22nd film as an actor but he still goes about his business as if it’s his maiden film, wants to make use of the opportunity to the optimum and believes in variations as a performer. He owned the character of Krishna from day one. With the role, he had to strike a balance between not going overboard and at the same time not underplaying it. He achieved that to perfection,” Anish raves.
He cherishes the experience of working with thespian Raadhika Sarathkumar. “To get the nod of such an experienced actor was a big thing for me. Today if we are exuding confidence about the film, it is because of what she brought to the table as an actress. She is a thorough professional. The script had some tit for tat scenes involving her and Shirley and we were worried if Shirley would eat up time as she was alien to Telugu, making Raadhika ma’am wait. But ma’am was understanding, co-operative and helped Shirley as well,” Anish marvels.
In fact, many people warned him that Raadhika might not green-lit the film as she is selective about her work. “It is the reason why producers were looking for other options as well. But I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t she agree? Let me try’. I gave her a narration on the phone for 40 minutes and she was in,” Anish reveals.
As a writer, once Anish cracks an idea, he ponders about the lead character, his family background and then comes to the conflict. The stronger the conflict, the better the story is, he believes. “Afterward, I think about the supporting roles that come to the aid of the hero. All these developments happen in my brain. I don’t like wasting paper. Once I formulate everything in my brain, I will design a one-line order and then go about writing scenes with dialogue on a paper. I’ve written Ala Ela in a month.
“My friend Ashok, who produced Ala Ela, was on his way to the airport when I narrated an investigative crime comedy. It was mounted on a budget of Rs 4-5 crore. He liked the idea but he was keen on something to be made under Rs 2 crore. I told him to enjoy his vacay in the US and that I will come up with something by the time he comes back. As promised, I was ready with the script of Ala Ela script by the time he returned, which was one month. I didn’t change a single scene or a dialogue from what I’ve written,” he maintains.
Writing humour comes naturally to the Tadepalligudem lad. “May be it has to do something from the place where I come from (both the Godavari districts are known for their wit and sarcasm). It exists by default. I consider it a boon. Even Raju garu used to say, ‘This Anish will write comedy even if we don’t need it’,” he points out gleefully.
While humour has been the mainstay of his films so far, he wants to deviate from it moving forward and do something drastically different. “I’m catching up on The Godfather series again. I want to plan a dark emotional action-thriller. Let’s see… as of now I have a basic line (a comedy) ready with me. I can complete the script if I sit on it for a month. But I feel like doing a serious film,” he concludes.
-NAGARAJ GOUD
