All in the family

Anjali Parvati Koda has directed a Telugu short film Abhi Abhi, will be released online soon.

Even as a child Anjali always had the privilege to dabble into movie production. The whole family would literally join in the production work of her father — well known filmmaker Mohan Koda.

“My brother Rahul Koda used to always enjoy shifting my presence, from department to department during the movie productions. And thus I started learning a little bit of everything. Today Rahul is a popular  Telugu screenwriter, and has co-written Telugu movies such as Anaganaga O Dheerudu and Panjaa. He has also written the script translation and action sequences for the latest blockbuster Baahubali.

“My father suggested that I work in theatre as it would help me learn the nuances of acting and understand the thought process of actors. When I was 18, I wrote my first play Purushotham — He, the Victim of Spiders and Pressure Cookers. This play is included in the syllabus for BFA and MFA at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey. Although I have written many plays, many times I am not satisfied with the performance as something invariably changes on the stage.”

Surprisingly, even stand-up comedy came into Anjali’s life at a very young age. “I won the title of Miss Fresher in my college and there was time to fill gaps in the programme with some comedy. I was helping my classmates who were doing stand-up comedy. I further developed interest in rap and parodies and later started doing stand-up comedy shows.”

Anjali is positive about the challenges faced by newcomers in the film industry. “Most of the times, actors are told how to act. However, for me, no film should be ever made for a particular audience. I am very keen on presenting the story to the audience through more visuals and fewer dialogues. Change is imminent and new storylines and ideas must constantly emerge. Many a time one can find that a combination of creative minds clicks in the industry. It’s all about understanding each other’s capabilities and learning from each other. I always feel excited and inspired when I recall those moments when we would have personalities such as Goutam Ghose, B. Narsing Rao, Thota Vaikuntam, Ustad Bismillah Khan and many others, in what we used to call a durbar, going on till the wee hours of night.”

As for the future, “I have a production team in place and we have pitched for a full fledged Telugu movie to a few producers. In the meanwhile, a new web series of short films, based on the typical Dakhani language of Telangana region, is also on the cards,” says a confident Anjali.

— Jaywant Naidu Musician, Creator of ‘Jaywant Guitar’ and a freelance photographer.