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Mullapudi Vara On His Directorial Venture Vishaka Express

Mullapudi Vara | January 18, 2008

Naa Alludu was designed to be a mass entertainer. It was packaged with an awesome starcast, huge and colourful sets and fantastic music. Devisri Prasad's music was unanimously loved by everyone. Ramya Krishna, Genelia and Shriya looked beautiful. But Ramya garu was way ahead of the others. She looked gorgeous-absolutely ravishing. But then, things didn't go as planned. Something was not quite right with the film. Obviously, the packaging is not the only thing that makes a film a success.

In spite of having everything going for it, these major aspects weren't enough to salvage the film. The length of the film was one other problem.

NTR was mind blowing and absolutely at ease playing the two characters. I'm still amazed at how fast he adapted himself while changing from one character to the other-Karthik and Murugan. His expressions in the song sequences-especially in "Yem Peru Murugan" were simply superb. He is easily one of the best dancers in the Telugu film industry.

And, the great guy that he is, NTR still treats me as a good friend. I feel honoured. We still keep in touch. He advises me about how and why I should change myself-for the better-become more assertive. Actually, I have a lot of well-wishers in Hyderabad-and they all tell me the same thing-that I need to come across stronger. I try to do that-sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don't. I'm very grateful to NTR for having suggested the title of the film- Visakha Express.

Visakha Express belongs to the action/thriller genre. All of us worked on the story for quite some time.

Vakkantam Vamsi is an amazing guy. We get along very well and his contribution toward developing the story was huge. He spent a lot of time on this-we would regularly meet Chandu also. Vamsi and Harsha-who also wrote the dialogue, helped a lot in shaping the story. And then, we all decided Chandu would be the right person to do the screenplay for this kind of a film. Chandu and Rajamouli both said yes to this.

Rajamouli loved the story when I first narrated it to him. He has already mentioned that he even wanted to direct it, and later wanted to produce it. Since he couldn't do either-he decided to present the film. I feel so honoured to have his name and Chandu's in the film.

Both Naresh and Rajiv became automatic choices for the characters they played. Fortunately, Naresh also liked the story and decided to accept it. We were all very excited. Along with the lead characters, the heroines Preeti and Sindhu, Kota garu, Ali garu and Dharmavarapu garu–the others also slid in easily into their parts. It was a wonderful experience shooting with such wonderful performers.

Naresh and Rajiv have done wonderfully-totally different from what they've done earlier. They've made it a memorable experience for me and for the film.

I still remember vividly every day of the shoot-including the first day.

Normally, the first day involves delays from all quarters-and everyone is prepared that the shoot would begin only by 10 a.m. or so. But our cameraman-PKH Das, a superb technician from Bangalore-would have none of it. He and I first met in Bangalore when we shot for the Kannada film AANANDA. We would make sure we had the first shot by 7 a.m. Here too, Das Sir made sure we got everything ready and we did the first shot before 7 a.m. on the first day!! He is a wonderful cameraman and a fantastic person. Though none of the others knew about him prior to this film-everyone instantly liked him. He is amazingly quick to respond to all my shot requirements. He never says no to any kind of shot I asked for. That's the kind of support any director would dream of getting from his technicians.

Music is by Vijay Kurakula-the guy who scored the music for films like "A film by Arvind". His name was suggested by Rajiv. I, like so many others, loved the background score for that film. But this was going to be different. A film by Arvind had long moments of silence–very little dialogue-where he could compose heavy music. He did that wonderfully. But Visakha Express would have more of action and dialogue. And Vijay garu did a fantastic job with the music. He worked so hard on the film. He has a strong base in western classical music. That helped a lot. The songs have been appreciated by everyone. Two songs – "Kasakku Sokulu" and the item song "Maapatela Eeroju" appeal to the masses and they were instant hits. The other two "Maapre" and "O Prema" are wonderful compositions and would have more impact visually.

Rajamouli especially loved the last song "O Prema"-wonderfully rendered by SP Balu garu, a feeling I'm sure everyone will have once they watch it in the film.

The editing department needs special mentioning. Ravindra Babu garu is a senior editor and is always bubbling with ideas-just like the Non-linear editor Chandrasekhar garu. He's Chandu's editor too- and a great technician. Both of them have done a wonderful job.

Ram Lakshman-what can we say about those wonderful fight masters? They are such wonderful people-so principled. We got along very well-and they gave me all the time I needed. They choreographed the chase sequences and the stunts superbly.

Special thanks to the dance masters Krishnareddy garu, Prem Rakshit and Tirumurugan [from Chennai]. They all worked so hard to make the songs visually appealing. I'm positive the result would be appreciated by everyone.

I'm grateful to Rajiv and the executive producer Purna garu for their invaluable support. Along with the people behind the whole show-Tulasi Gopal garu and his partners. They made sure I got everything I wanted to shoot the film. Whatever the problems, they stopped them right outside the set, so that I could shoot very comfortably. Its only because of their support, along with the entire unit-that we were able to complete the film earlier than scheduled. We had planned the shoot for 50 days-considering the budget limitations we had. But we wrapped it up in 47 days. I'm be indebted to the whole team for that.

Valli-Keeravani garu's wife-told me right in the beginning that she would help me with the publicity of the film. I'm thrilled with what she has done with the promotion for the audio. She also helped design the posters and the promos. She has amazing clarity about what she wants-and a great sense of visualization and colour. Keeravani garu also liked the songs very much-we have only four in the film. But he told us to add a 5th song-only for the audio. His suggestion was to make a rap version of "O Prema"-which we did. I trust their judgement. Noel-who wrote the lyrics as well for the rap version-rendered it beautifully.

The promo editors Madhu and Naveen are much sought after now-especially after they did these promos for Visakha Express. I learnt a lot from them.

Valli also helped a lot with the costume designing.

The entire unit gets the credit for the way the film has shaped up. All of us did what we were supposed to do. And I'm praying it'll pay off. God bless Visakha Express.