An emerging directorial talent

Vamsee Telugu, whose name itself bears testament to his avid interest in the culture of Telangana, has won the Best Director Award for his film Saachi at Avatharana Filmotsavam, the short film festival conducted by the Department of Culture.

The native of Narayanpet town in Mahbubnagar district has been inclined towards all things creative from a young age. “In my childhood I had a deep interest in painting, sketching and reading novels. When I came to Hyderabad, to study electronic engineering at a college near Chilkur, I ensured that I made time to read about film history, world cinema and post-colonial history,” Vamsee says.

Upon graduation, he got on a traditional career path and joined a multi-national company as a research engineer for automotive-embedded design work. “But I would always be thinking about how to make documentaries and short films. In the year 2015, I thought of joining the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, to do a course in Direction and Screenplay. I knew that the selection process would be tough, as there were only ten vacancies, but I took up the challenge.”

And as luck would have it, that application changed the course of his career. “I was scheduled to leave for South Korea for some official work when I received a message from FTII regarding my selection. I was very excited, but my family members were apprehensive about my decision to quit my job and join a film training institute,” he says. “It’s not an easy life, especially when you don’t have any financial support or scholarships,” he says. 

“I am astonished by the state-of-art equipment on which we are trained. Most of my seniors here submit their works to international film festivals, and just hanging out with them is a great learning experience. It’s worth all the trouble in life!” he says.

Having watched some of the other short films screened at Avatharana Filmotsavam, Vamsee believes that young directors have a lot to gain from education in the craft of filmmaking. “I feel that most young filmmakers have a long way to go. More workshops need to be conducted for them on the techniques of filmmaking,” he says. Vamsee is in no hurry to make a feature film. “After I complete my studies, I would like to come back and spend at least a year travelling through the villages of Telangana. There are so many unheard stories in this region which need to be brought to screens. I want to do that before I finally direct a feature film” he says.