Y.Sunita Chowdhary
The happiness and excitement in C/O Kancharapalem director Venkatesh Maha’s voice when we speak of his mother is palpable. The happiest moment that Maha could remember of her is when Tharun Bhascker got her to meet him at a talk show. She has been a strong person in shaping his personality. Had she stopped him from leaving the house, he would never be the filmmaker or the person he is today. ‘Cinema teesaanamma antey nammaledhu,’ he told us after he met her post the release of C/O Kancharapalem. She thought it must have been another short film. The family is upbeat about his achievements but Maha is unmoved by the adulation he received by the film fraternity and the cine-goers. Here, he looks back at the phase before the film that changed his life.
Everything in a name
“From my childhood, I was fascinated with the name Maha. Any word gets elevated because of this adjective. Maha intensifies a negative or positive quality. It denotes uniqueness and tells us the extremity of a nature, for example, Maha Veerudu, Maha Moorkhudu. Vinayakudu mundhu Maha, moorkudu mundhu kooda Maha pedtharu. From the 8th or 9th standard onwards, I wanted people to address me as Maha Venkatesh. Some people asked why Maha is a suffix and not a prefix. You will find me in IMDB as Maha Venkatesh. In the early stage of my life, I decided I should do away with a surname. Like how I have an adjective as my surname, I would encourage my successive generations to follow the practice. I believe that discrimination will vanish to an extent by not giving importance to the family name. I am a Maha Mondodu (it’s a personification). I had survived because of this stubbornness in the industry and I don’t want to lose that quality. If I hadn’t been stubborn I would have returned home, got married and had been employed in an ordinary job.”
On his own since 16
“I was living independently by the time I was 16 years old. I was on a job and simultaneously studying second-year intermediate. I went home only occasionally but would never stay. I remember asking my mother for money once, but in the following years, I never asked her for a penny. When I hear people going abroad for MS and other degrees, I would wonder if I had taken the right step but I ultimately knew I was right. People would ask me for advice and I would question and seek the right answer myself. I never sought guidance from anyone. I am proud of my achievements. Three-four years after I moved out, I did ask myself why I took such a decision. That was because I was an adolescent and I couldn’t take the struggles. Imagine a youngster not having money in his hands.”
Self-respect matters a great deal
“I have a great deal of self-respect and never took advice or help. My upbringing was enough to help me lead an independent life. My three brothers were married and had their families. My dad passed away when I was young. Mom lives with my brothers and she does ask me now and then if she can come over to my place. I told her I don’t want the guilt of not taking care of her well enough as I am always on the run. My mom is 73 years old, she tells me to be in touch once in a while and inform her that I am doing well. I once gave her a strict warning that I will leave once again if she rakes up my marriage issue. Recently Tharun Bhascker was doing a show and he surprised me. He invited my mother and my youngest brother. Pelli yeppudu Maha was the question and I looked at my mother in askance obviously wondering if she discussed it with them. She said aiyyo naaku sambandham ledhu hinting she didn’t tell.
The only regret being independent is in the last 15 years I spent very little time with her. She knows about my film. She gazes at the paper cuttings, feels good when there is a mention on television. She thought I shot a short film but not a full-length feature film. Once Keeravani and Rajamouli’s family wanted to see the film, I too called my family to see it. My family couldn’t believe I directed a film. They haven’t seen my struggles. In a dramatic situation, I met my mom…after I left the house for two or three years. When Rajamouli was talking to me, my brothers were seemingly excited. The family is naïve and innocent. Though they have been living in Vijayawada, they are still conservative and can’t believe anything big happening in their lives. Now they have begun believing it. I am conscious of my roots and not giving into basic emotions like exultation and depression. I would never grow in art and life had I got carried away with what people call success. I had disappeared a few days after the film released. I went incognito and joined a three-month course to remain grounded. I am not a saint but I try my best to see certain emotions don’t dominate me.”
Early life in Vijayawada
I would sleep in bus stands, wash my clothes in the Krishna river and wait till the clothes dried. The conversations with the sadhus and vagabonds at the river bed helped my thoughts. I am glad I decided to move out early in life. I didn’t know how it would have been or what I would have achieved had I compromised and stayed with the family. My decision was stubborn. My brothers’ responsibilities were growing and I was growing too, it would be difficult for them to handle me. It would be tough for me too if I had to ask them for something. I told my mother about my decision. After a month I came home with money and for that brief moment, I was tempted to stay back. I told her I will stay with her and she said no, I should leave. ‘In this one a half month you don’t know how much respect you gained from the family, I don’t want you to lose that’ were her words.”
On friendship
“When I came to film making, people used to underestimate me easily. They would ask if I had been recommended or referred by someone. Had I directed any commercial film instead of C/O Kancharapalem? I would have never done that. In the ten years of film making, the thought never occurred. Of course, I want to do a commercial film now. However, had I done that commercial film earlier, it wouldn’t have been spoken about. I cried many a night, went through my lows and became emotional. There were friendships that I nurtured, and that helped me make C/O Kancharpalem. They were like an anchor in a turbulent storm. Sometimes it was friends and sometimes it was my upbringing that helped me stay afloat.
I did make many mistakes, I am a human being with a lot of flaws. The friendships taught me to romanticise life. I had great imagination and expectations from the future. All this is uncertain, my friends had alerted. I had good company. Oka unconditional company etla untundo choosanu and a company with a lot of expectations and conditions also chusaanu. A person had a lot of expectations on me and from that person, I learnt expectations are not good. In C/O Kancharapalem, lot of people said the subject was philosophical. I didn’t preach consciously. Whatever I wanted to practice I put in there, it is a reflection of my personality. There is fiction in stories but I believe at least one per cent of your personality should be there and it will drive you to tell the story.”
Stint in Hyderabad
“When I was 20, I decided I should do something in films. I experienced all the ups and downs in Vijayawada but more evolution happened in Hyderabad and while I was travelling. I tried being an assistant director for a big film and they all asked for references and said they already have a lot of ADs with them. I might not have made C/O Kancharapalem had I been taken as an AD. I wrote a story titled Rangasthalam and went around with it and wanted to make it with Satya Dev but unfortunately, a film with the same name was announced. I took a break from the whole process and in 2016, I left to Vizag. On the way, I got a story idea and when I reached there I decided I would shoot it with the local people as the cast. Each day, my idea strengthened and the film got going.
I came to the industry to become an actor and since I was in the fifth class, I nurtured that thought. In the tenth standard, I took Rs 500 from my mother after seeing an advertisement in Eenadu Vasundhara. An academy was holding auditions and when I attended it, they said I would be the next NTR and all I needed to do was learn a few camera angles and pay them Rs 5000. I went home and such experiences repeated and I shelved my dream to be an actor. I worked as a co-director for television shows and didn’t know when this transition happened. One morning, I woke up as a director. C/O Kancharapalem gave me enough to make my second film.”
On the lockdown and survival
“The lockdown has been irritating. I lived on the roads for 15 years and this can’t change my life. I have faced enough that nothing can surprise me. If something adverse were to happen, I can start from scratch and there are many film industries in the country and also abroad. If that doesn’t work, I will sell grocery in a store and narrate stories to people who come to buy them. There is another option, veedhi natakam (street plays). Survival is easy because humans can’t go extinct right away, but what makes us different is our expectations from life. I am happy with the new crop of directors. I wondered if people would accept me but before that happened, I had noticed ten directors have already made a place for themselves in the hearts of movie lovers. Dhairyam perigindhi. I hope this whole new group won’t have any competition. I don’t like the talk of a film collecting a certain figure. When competition starts, art dies. Everybody has a place under the sun, there is a taker for every story according to their tastes.”
Stars don’t work with new directors
“They share our films, promote them on Twitter but won’t work with the new age directors. I told Satyadev during the making of Uma Maheshwara Ugrarupasya, that it is okay if he broke his bones but I needed a particular shot. He would do it. He is not yet a big star and he has the enthusiasm to go for it. Stars might not have that fire in their belly. Some might not even know what hunger is all about. Aakali teeripotaniki, aakali undho ledho teliyali. If they are talking economics, there is a star from a neighbouring state who does art and commercial cinema and people all over the country swoon over him. Our people also appreciate him. Why don’t stars say honestly that they don’t want to work with us instead of giving reasons and justifications that aren’t right? Didn’t Rangasthalam work despite the sophistication in the look? Ram Charan said he never went to a village but he liked the life in it. People have accepted him despite the role he played and he went that extra mile to live the character. Most stars might not have the energy to understand the detailing.
