Not just another love story

I made Satruvu, Police Lockup, Devi, Devi Putrudu and Manasanta Nuvve so far. All the films I made so far belong to different genres. For the first time I am repeating the theme of love for 'Nee Sneham'. According to me, love stories should have a soul and heart. And they can be conceived and made by only those people who have a heart that responds to emotions and love. With Manasanta Nuvve I proved up to 70% of my capabilities of making a love story. With Nee Sneham, I want to prove myself thereby achieving a higher satisfaction rate. I involved myself in every department of 'Nee Sneham' making for best results. I want to break the records set by the youth love stories with 'Nee Sneham'. I worked very hard and I want 'Nee Sneham' to be remained as one of the best love stories ever made on Telugu screen.

The grandeur

I devoted eight months for the script of Nee Sneham. We worked for four months on the making of the film. It was made at breakneck speed. I shot it for 93 days. The budget of this film is huge costing me about three times the money I spent for 'Manasanta Nuvve'. I spent so much money because the script needed it and the story demanded it. For example, if the hero is a football player and there is a National level match being played in the film - I need to recreate that atmosphere and excitement by using best technical equipment and hiring hoards of junior artists.

Some 'aspects'

Though the entertainment aspect in this movie might be 10-15% less than that in Manasanta Nuvve, the visual impact one could see would be much more than the previous film. In Manasanta Nuvve, the hero got sympathy from the audiences for the last two reels. But in this film, the hero will make a strong impact on the viewers right from the opening shot. I would say that there is more a certain mood in 'Nee Sneham' compared to 'Manasanta Nuvve'.

Audio

Coming to the audio, there is one particular song 'Ooruko Hrudayama'. This song has got a less rating (he is speaking about 3.5 rating given by Sreya Sunil). As an audio, it might sound ok. But when you watch this song in the theaters along with the visuals and the mood of the story, I am pretty sure everybody's eyes would get wet. I can openly say that if that song does not move anybody, he/she is not a human being at all. When I Okayed the song 'Evvarineppudu' for 'Manasanta Nuvve', people commented that audiences would go outside the auditorium for a cigarette break during that song but people did enjoy that short song too. During that time, people felt that I should have an item folk song in the film. I still persisted with melodies in Manasanta Nuvve. With the success of 'Manasanta Nuvve', we became more confident and injected more soulful melodies in 'Nee Sneham' album.

Story

Regarding the story of the film, it's about two male friends (Uday Kiran and Jatin) who are football players. I am told that Teja asked Uday Kiran to pump iron so that he can have a stiff body for his 'Nuvvu Nenu' character. But the character of hero in 'Manasanta Nuvve' needs a normal body. Hence I asked him to stop exercising so that he can have a loose body for 'Manasanta Nuvve'. After that he did three films - Kalusukovalani, Holi and Sreeram. I waited for them to complete and asked him to build body for greater firmness, as his character in 'Nee Sneham' needs an athletic body. Uday Kiran plays the role of good friend, good son and a good lover. What he does to win his love forms the crux of the film. I confidently say that 'Nee Sneham' is one of its kinds in triangular love stories on Telugu screen. People would be astonished and delighted at the same time looking at this love story.

The story of the film is a thrilling one. After seeing the film, I felt that I executed the story to my utmost satisfactory level. First half of the film serves as a base to second half and second half would consist of thrilling stuff. The last 30 minutes of the film would be extremely good. The audiences just can't take their eyes off the screen. The song Ooruko Hridayama would touch your heart very deep when that song is screened in the theater.

People have fond memories of films of Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra and K Viswanath. After watching 'Manasanta Nuvve', audience got some satisfaction. Hopefully, 'Nee Sneham' would make the audience nostalgic about the genre films I mentioned above.

The artistes

Uday Kiran has so much faith on me that he accepted this film without even asking me for the storyline. He performed extremely well. I am introducing Jatin in Telugu. Jatin has also performed very well. People have seen only the glamour angle of Arti Agarwal so far. For the first time, you would be seeing her 'perform' in 'Nee Sneham'.

The technical crew

I never worked so hard for any other film in my career. Paruchuri brothers are like backbone for my films. They know how to engage the audiences by writing right words for the right scenes. S Gopal Reddy, one of the senior most cameramen in the industry, handled camera for 'Nee Sneham'. He is a close buddy of mine and this film would feature the best work of Gopal Reddy among all his films till date. Whenever I told him the screenplay of the film, narrating two scenes that come before a particular shot, he would immediately come up with a superb opening shot for that scene giving a smooth flow from the closing earlier shot.

RP Patnaik is the best man without any ego. He has a haunting voice and he gives haunting melodious tunes. He gave me all the tunes, sans one song, in 2-3 days after listening to the story. When he went to Tirupati, he called me up from there to tell me that he prepared a tune with the blessings of Lord Venkateswara. That tune - veyi kanulato - was instantly okayed by me.

When it comes to some vital departments we need thoroughly experienced technicians for films. But at the same time I do not refrain from introducing new talent if necessary. For example, I introduced an 18-year-old young lad called Devi Sri Prasad for a devotional film 'Devi'. Actually, Devi Sri Prasad was known for his love based pop songs at that time and I made him work for a devotional film and he did a terrific job. I am introducing a new choreographer called Hari, who worked as an assistant to Prabhu Deva for sometime, through 'Nee Sneham'. I am also introducing Saboo Seenu - a protégé of Saboo Cyril - as an art director through this film. With a little bit of guidance, I am sure these new guys would flourish well in the future.

Coming to the lyricist Sirivennela, he is the sky. He is undoubtedly the best. About friendship song, I told him that there are only two super hit songs 'Snehamera Jeevitam', 'Dost Mera Dost'. I told him that in my opinion we will not get a better song and hence I would like to remove that slot. Sirivennela seems to have understood my sweet challenge. After 3 days, he called at mid night (1 am) and asked me to come to his house immediately. Then he told me the song - konthakalam kindata. RP Patnaik was shocked to read all the lyrics. He told me that Sirivennela lyrics completely dominated his tunes.

Ghost director? Or a Co-ordinator?

Whoever is the director of my films, all the films I produced so far have come from my heart. I look at the rushes and re-shoot them if they are not up to my satisfactory level. I re-shot only a scene that took us half a day to re shoot it.

Every technician involves to his or her fullest capacity for my films. You can see cinematographer S Gopal Reddy going to the artists and telling them how to give a better performance. So does that mean he is the director or ghost director? He is only involving himself more into the film just like me.

There is one person for every film, who holds the entire strings together and leads the team. It could be either director or producer. For my films, I am that person who co-ordinates the things and holds everything together.