Even before HOPE released you were quoted saying the film would win a National Award?How and why were you so confident?
My belief in the subject, my conviction in I wanting it, my passion and ability, which I believed in, all these made me believe that I will achieve it.
Tell us something about ‘Kalavaramaye Madilo’?
It is a love story and a family drama, set in the backdrop of music. This film is a tribute to mother hood.
Ilayraja scored music for your first film HOPE ,so why couldn’t we see Ilayraja when ”Kalavaramaye Madilo” has a musical backdrop?
My first choice was Ilayraja, Keeravani was the second option, due to some financial constraints we could not get them.
Did you have ‘Swathi’ and ‘Kamal Kamaraju’ on your mind before finalizing the script for ”Kalavaramaye Madilo”?
No,I choose the cast after i complete the script.Only Thanikala Bharini was confirmed before i completed the script.
Was Swathi the first choice for the role?
My personal choice was Swati, but when I took this subject to few producers before coming to mohan media, they had their choices. In the end my choice was producers choice too…
How was it working with Kamal Kamaraju?
I did not want a big hero in the film.I was impressed by Kamal Kamaraju’s performance in ‘Avakai Biryani’ and then decided that he would be the male lead of the film.He is a very good actor and has a very important role in the film.
How did you arrive at the title ”Kalavaramaye Madilo”?
Dil Raju had registered the name for a love story , so when he heard my story he liked it and gave it.I liked the title of the film when i heard it because “ammyi ki madilo kalavaram” in the beginning of the film and at the end “thana madiloni kala varamayindi”.
Did you have any apprehensions regarding the music as you have gone for a debutant music director ‘Sharreth Vasudevan’?
I knew he is a very learned man but.., my only apprehension was will he understand the language and give me what I want. But then at the end of the day I did learn one more lesson in music, that is there is no language for music. The proof is before you.
As ‘Sharreth Vasudevan’ is the student of ‘Balamuralikrishna garu’ did he feel comfortable while composing music for a film?
This is not his first film, he did plenty of movies in Tamil Malayalam. He is definitely up there as for as his music is concerned. In a recent programmer on Asianet star singer, He said “I am learning to make my music simple”.
It is said that the second song of the film ‘Tholi Tholi Aasalenno’ contains mistakes, is it the part of the script or just a gimmick?
Its not a gimmick,its the part of the script in which the singer makes some mistakes while she sings the song.
As the album contains 8 songs,what is the running time of the film?
The running time of the film is only 2hrs 15 min.
How was it working with ‘Chitra garu’?
Dream come true, god has been very kind to me, I have worked with some of the best people in the industry.She is so down to earth, so humble and has no airs about herself. May be that is how great people are made of.
She sang all the songs with so much ease. The toughest song to sing was the “thoil tholi” song, because it was composed with mistakes. And for such a great singer to sing and make mistakes consciously was tough. But being a professional she is, she took her time and recorded the song. Thank you chitra garu.
Lyrics of the songs are wonderful and every song is written by ‘Vanamaali’, any reason for sticking to one lyricist?
Makes my job easy. Two heads better than many. I had heard his earlier songs and liked them, so I said why not him, Most of the time I go by my instinct. While working with him I realized that I made the right choice.
All the songs are good in the film , which was the toughest to conceive or execute?
Looking back, I think the climax song was the toughest to shoot, considering, the time available to shoot that song. It was tough for vanamali garu also to write the lyric’s of this song. When he sat down to write ,he could write only 4 lines and then there was a block, the rest of the song took 20 days to write after reading the script four times.
Your favorite Directors?
K. Vishvanath , Maniratnam and Shekar kapoor.
Do you have anything to say to the audience?
Watch ”Kalavaramaye Madilo” .. Please encourage good cinema.
Originally published on Passionforcinema.com