New director on the block

Satish Kumar hails from a small village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. After completing his schooling in his native village, he went to Kakinada to do his Civil Engineering.

“I used to watch a lot of films, but got interested in filmmaking during my gradutaion,” reveals Satish, who is also a painter. “I took up painting as a hobby and later joined an animation school in Kakinada,” says Satish, who did both his engineering and animation simultaneously.

“My mind diverted to films and I strongly wanted to become a director, so in 2005, I discontinued studies in my third year of engineering,” he reveals. He then started to make documentary films, which earned him a few awards, especially the one he did on Mahatma Born Again. “I also made a few short films,” he says.

After landing in Hyderabad in 2008, Satish worked with graphic and advertisement companies. “I worked for many television ads and learnt about the nuances of filmmaking,” he says. Simultaneously, he also worked on his story titled Mixture Potlam. “Luckily, the producers are from Rajahmundry, so I decided to shoot the film there,” he says.

While most people who want to make a film start an office in Hyderabad, Satish decided to do everything from Rajahmundry and came to Hyderabad only for post-production. Describing his film, he says, “It’s a travel story on a bus journey from Amalapuram to Shirdi. Many people travel in the same bus and each one has a different story to narrate.”

Shweta Basu Prasad and actor Bhanu Chander’s son, Jayant will play the leads. “I know Bhanu Chander for the last four years and he plays an important role in the film. When I was looking for a young face to do the lead role, he suggested his son Jayanth,” shares Satish. Popular playback singer S.P.  Balasubramanyam also sang two songs in the film.

“My dream has come true as the film is releasing on May 19. The premiere show was held in Chennai because Bhanu Chander stays there. He wanted to show the film to some of the close aides in the industry. They all liked it,” beams the young filmmaker.