Actors and directors present at the Gollapudi Srinivas award ceremony, recollected their first film experiences
Megastar Chiranjeevi
When Chiranjeevi turned emotional: Megastar Chiranjeevi, who was in Chennai after a long time, expressed happiness for the chance to grace the event and to meet his old pals in the city. The veteran actor, who was seen in a cheery mood throughout the event, however said that he was experiencing ‘mixed feelings’ at the venue.
He elaborated, saying, “It’s true that I’m very happy attending this event. But it is an emotional affair for me as I shared a close bond with the members of Gollapudi family. Hence, unlike many other routine events where I attend and leave the venue, this is spiritual and gives me immense satisfaction.”
Chiru revealed that his bonhomie with the family dated back to the time he started his career in the industry. “I have always admired Gollapudi Maruti Rao, who worked as a writer and actor in my films. I loved visiting his home and spending time with him. I remember Srinivas as an enthusiastic person, who had lots of innovative ideas. He was particular that I should grace the audio launch of his film Prema Pustakam, which had Ajith in the lead, and we discussed about working together too,” recollected the star.
Poster child for debutant directors: I am a self-confessed drama queen, said Siddharth during his Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Lecture, which he prefers to call only a ‘talk’, as he doesn’t take himself serious enough to give a lecture.
In his career of 25 films, he has worked with 14 debutant directors. And as the audience welcomed the dashing actor, he started to recount his early days in the film industry — his role as the assistant director to ace Mani Ratnam.
“I got to watch from very close quarters, one of India’s finest — he taught me everything I know. However, this didn’t work out very well for my boss, Mr. Mani Ratnam,” he said, and observed that probably Mani could give a lecture about his tryst with overconfident, amateurish, and outspoken youngsters with Siddharth in a starring role!
Sid said that he has, in a way, become a poster child for debutante directors — both as an actor and a producer, and quipped that he started out as an assistant director in the industry with an eye on his boss’s (Mani’s) job.
As he proceeded to explain the intricacies of the relationship between a director, producer, actor, distributor, the media and the audience — he confessed to have learnt more while working with debutant directors than the experienced one.
On a closing note he said, “As a self-confessed drama queen, in my solitary moments, I imagine of having had a role in Gollapudi Srinivas’s first movie. Srinivas may not have reached his final line — in his life and as a director. However, he will remain our favourite debutante director.”
Filmmaking involves lot of hardships, says Karthik Subbaraj: Director Karthik Subbaraj feels that budding and debutant filmmakers need more encouragement to perform a cut above the rest. Speaking at the event, the young filmmaker said he found it to be different, as it was aimed only at honouring talent, whereas there have been many instances where he felt he was at a school sports event while attending award ceremonies. He quipped that such incidents made him think about why he made films.
He added, “I wanted to be honoured as a debutant director at a venue like this, but I am not eligible anymore as I have done two films. Filmmaking these days has become a very difficult thing which involves lot of hardship and barriers. However, I’m happy that these kinds of events act as encouragement for directors like us.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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