The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘Priyadarshan, Fazil influenced me’

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Wednesday, Sep 24, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Priyadarshan, Fazil influenced me’

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

Yogesh is all set to scorch the silver screen with ‘Victory’ that stars ‘Chintakayala Ravi’, Venkatesh and Anushka

On a roll: Director Yogesh returns with yet another starry fare.

HYDERABAD: As any other young guy, he enjoyed watching films like ‘Mackenna’s Gold, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ and ‘The Guns of Navarone’, but it was only after watching Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Shiva’ in 1989 that he seriously began considering film-making as a passion. That’s Yogesh for you.

He admits that directors Priyadarshan and Fazil influenced him too, as was his fascination to the likes of Ilayaraja, P.C. Sriram and Thota Thorani. Since ‘Shiva’, he began watching films from a directorial perspective. Enamoured though he was with Ram Gopal Varma, it was ‘Jaitra Yatra’, directed by Uppalapati Narayana Rao that actually sparked it off.

Yogesh came to Hyderabad, connected with Narayana Rao and started work with him on ‘Teerpu’. The next step was when he joined RGV for from ‘Anaganaga Oka Roju’ to ‘Jungle’. He went on to work with Nivas for ‘School’ and ‘Love Keliye Kuch Bhi Karega’, before impressing Ramoji Rao, to land ‘Oka Raju Oka Rani’ (OROR) in 2003. ‘OROR’ did not click, though.

Now, he is almost through with ‘Chintakayala Ravi’ starring ‘Victory’ Venkatesh flanked by Anushka and Mamta Mohandas and Nikita in a cameo. In the advanced stages of post-production, the film will hit the screens by October 1. Has he learnt his lessons? “Of course. I am not ashamed of admitting that something went wrong then and I think it was in the second half”. How did he get to direct ‘C .. Ravi’? “I was introduced to D. Suresh Babu by producer Tammareddy Bharadwaja. One thing led to another, but the initial offer of doing a film for him did not work. However, I ended up directing Kona Venkat’s story for producer Nallamalupu Bujji with Venky as hero. This is truly a big budget film and am extremely fortunate for getting to direct it,” he says. At first look ‘C .. Ravi’ does appear to have all the trappings required to make it at the BO. All the best, Yogesh!

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