Another new venture
M.L. NARASIMHAM
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Suresh Kondeti's first film as producer will be the Telugu version of Shankar's flick, `Kadhal'.
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Santhosham was my first big success and I retained the name for my weekly
ANDHRA CONNECTION Suresh Kondeti is all set to taste success as a producer with a dubbed version of `Kadhal' starring Bharath and Sandhya.
All success stories are not made overnight. Lucky for those who have godfathers but for the self-made it's lot of struggle to gain a foothold in filmdom. Their strength lies in the 3-D mantra - dedication, devotion and discipline. From being a scribe in a daily, here is a youngster who made a successful foray into film distribution, publication and now takes on a new avatar as producer.
Suresh Kondeti who tasted success both as film distributor in the West Godavari and as publisher of a popular tabloid film weekly, is all set to taste success as a producer since he is rubbing shoulders with box office's Midas man - Shankar. "But for megastar Chiranjeevi, I would not have become a producer," says Suresh. "It was during last year's Santhosham (the film tabloid that Suresh has been successfully running for the past four years) Film Awards Nite that the megastar said that soon I may take up film production too and wished me. His words have become reality today," smiles the aspiring producer. And he launched the magazine thanks to another superstar Nagarjuna. "I was grateful that though I was a novice in the field, he gave me the distribution rights to Santhosham, my first big success and I retained the name for my weekly."
With so many sops around for straight films, why did he opt to make his entry with a dubbed film? Is it because two-dubbed films recently raked in more moolah than any major straight films released so far this year? "On the contrary, I liked the Tamil film, Kadhal produced by Shankar so much that if at all I make my entry (as a producer) it should be with such a film. It is such a wonderful, sensitive and sensibly crafted film, that I could not get over it for days. Rarely do such things happen. I thought I nearly missed the opportunity of showcasing it to the Telugu audience as the rights were already sold. Fortunately for me they were with two prominent film people - N.V. Prasad and Paras Jain from Tirupati. As a scribe and distributor I have an excellent relationship with them. It worked and they were glad to give me the rights. Then I met Shankar."
Much before this he had first met Shankar as a reporter while the later was making Indian (Bharatheeyudu) along with producer A.M. Rathnam in Hyderabad. "I asked for an appointment the previous night with them for a story for my daily. They said they were catching the early morning flight. But Shankar was surprised to see me at the hotel at 4-30 in the morning waiting for the interview. I have this habit of not giving up so easily," smiles Suresh. A self-made man, Shankar knows the value of dedication and he immediately came forward to present the film, Premisthe.
"Premisthe has a different ambience altogether. Like in all my films, here too the subject is universal but located in Madurai. I want that original feel to be there in the Telugu version too," says Shankar.
Premisthe is directed by Shankar's understudy Balaji Shakthivel. Made on a moderate budget, the Tamil original opened as moderately but as word of mouth publicity caught up with people, it went on to celebrate its silver jubilee run and cash collections soared to a new high. The two main actors, Bharath and Sandhya (debut) gave a natural performance as teenaged lovers. Without resorting to cheap commercial gimmicks, Balaji dealt with a subject that harps on teen attraction, infatuation and the resultant piquant situations the youngsters are caught in, in a sensible manner. "I was particularly touched by its climax," says Shankar. "Though I knew the story before, I was stunned beyond words. It haunted me for a couple of days. So natural. So real. Once I agreed to produce it, I never interfered in the director's work. It is Balaji's baby and he should get due credit," answers Shankar to a query.
The film has an Andhra connection to it too. When mentioned about this Shankar is all smiles. "Of course, I must thank A.M. Rathnam for introducing me to the Telugu audience who are showering so much affection on me and my work. Coming back to Premisthe, you said it right. It was during the making of Boys that Balaji first narrated the story. We were travelling from Rajahmundry to Vizag after completing work there. I heard the story and liked it. But I told him to weave a commercial mass story for his first venture. He was adamant. So finally I decided to produce it myself. I am happy that I did it not just because it has got me dividends but because I was associated with a world class project." Shankar believes that his film is of world-class quality in content and screenplay. He intends sending it to various film festivals the world over. "It deserves such exposure. In October we are showing it at the London Film Festival."
Meanwhile Suresh is happy that he got stalwarts like Veturi Sundararama Murthy and Sri Ramakrishna as the lyricist and dialogue writer. "Joshua Sridhar's music was on top of the charts for many months in Tamil Nadu. We are hoping to repeat the performance here. On
September 24 we are holding the audio release function at Shilpa Kala Vedika in a big way," discloses Suresh. He is roping in all the 14 singers who have rendered the songs from Hariharan to Tippu, from Malati to Sunita Sarathi. "There will be a stage show of song and dance sequences from six of Shankar's earlier hits by popular heroines too," informs Suresh. Has this little showman finally arrived?
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