We have a bunch of girls making their debut soon as producers in the Telugu film industry and one of them is Neelima Guna. As we toast her genius, we learn that she has had an extremely sane, positive and a healthy upbringing and her parents Gunasekhar and Ragini Guna while being a true guiding force allowed her a journey of exploration. Her father is known to us as a brilliant director who is selective in his work and has made reasonable number of films that has made us proud;Obviously it is in her DNA to take up a creative career but it is her mother who has influenced her to make productive use of her spare time that would take her forward. In a brief chat with Klapboardpost.com, Neelima Guna gives her own take on the journey from academics to handling a film production. Ask her about studies and if her family had actually prepared her for a bigger role in movie making, she says “I was never taken to the sets too many times, didn’t have film magazines coming home, no film awards functions. We were academically inclined and I am an alumnus from Gitanjali school. Dad wanted us to study well like my mother. He had grand sets and whenever there was an interesting set, we were taken there to have a glimpse. Contrary to what you said, we were not trained, it is my personal interest in stories and creative aspects that led me here.”
Neelima finished her schooling in Hyderabad and did bachelors in mass communication and journalism at St. Mary’s. This was followed up by a course in art and visual culture at University of WestMinster, London. She was interested in studying arts and art forms within media and as a child, would paint and had a fetish for creative works. She wanted to study something that has a combination of arts. Visual arts was a broad subject and since it has film as an art form, she was heavily inspired to be a producer. Musicals and Broadway shows also influenced her. When did she begin interning? She shares, “Dad started producing films and my mother was heavily involved in that. I interned for Rudramadevi. This was during my bachelors and after Rudramadevi was released, I left India to do my Masters.” Gunasekhar’s sets are aesthetic, opulent. What impact did he have on her as a filmmaker and as a father? “Dad always said hard work pays off and we should work hard irrespective of the result. I have never seen him take a holiday or relax, he is always reading, writing or watching films. When I asked him why he never takes a break, he said he found a job that he loves and never wants to stop doing it. As a father, he is very loving and inspired us to never take things for granted. He has pampered me and my sister quite a bit but emphasised on good education, good exposure..which is why he sent me abroad to study. My sister is preparing to go. He is a great friend to us.”
Story narrations must be an integral part of your life? “We were not taken to the sets but would discuss stories with us. He valued our feedback and what we thought of the story. While I was interning for Rudramadevi, I figured out I liked the production part of it and decided after academics, I would play an important role in that area. I was dealing with all kinds of people and played the good cop as well as the bad cop. As you deal with budgets and HR, your skills of dealing with people also surface. The foundation has been laid by the parents during Rudramadevi. A team has been set and my mother manages a large part of the finances.” How do you intend to control wastage as a producer? She quips, “I believe sets should be a part of the story. If it is essential it has to be there. Not that the audience will see the film only because of the big sets. If there is anything that is grand and expansive, people tend to talk. All my father’s major hits have sets in them. We are very meticulous with planning and do thorough pre production. We cut wastage at that stage only and are able to give amazing props that remind us of big period films. It has a general budget that is usually allocated to general pot-boilers. We shot Sakuntalam in 80 days. Dad’s experience as a producer plays a major role and the credit should go to my mother as well. Mom handles money and I deal with communication, story and pulling people into the film.”
Neelima stresses that the success of their films is dependent on pre production and all of them work towards the same goal. She tells us that her Mom has an amazing ability to switch off from work and is also a great multi-tasker. Ask her about the OTT platforms, Neelima says she is there as a producer at a right time and though she concurs the availability of vast and good content, she prefers watching cinema in the theatre for she believes that the grand experience will never disappear. Right now the family’s focus is entirely on Shakuntalam. Of Course there are filmi discussions at the dining table and her father does tell them what he is making next. Sakuntalam, she reveals, was discussed when she just returned from London and she asked her father if she could be the co-producer. She was very confident of her choice and Samantha was right there on her mind for the titular role.
Did the young lady study publicity and marketing of a film or is she taking it one at a time? “The course I studied abroad has no such training about marketing and sales, publicity. Whatever insights I have gained is what I saw over a period of time, it is not linked to anything. Whatever skills one learns in the past will help but to stay relevant, you need to upgrade, update. Five years back, the scene was totally different. There is a paradigm shift and we should try to be contemporary. Producer Dil Raju is partnering with us and we shall be working together.” Neelima waxes eloquent on her sibling and her father-director whose enthusiasm to learn new things has only helped me upgrade his work , “My sister is much more interested in story telling, she is into screenplay etc. I am more of a listener. Dad is in the game, right in the business with the millennial audience. He never likes doing regular stuff, likes to think out of the box. He didn’t shy away from taking up a course in Germany to study 3D before embarking on Rudramadevi. Many directors wouldn’t waste time to do that and would prefer learning in the process but dad does his preparation. That is his strength and when he narrates a story, you can’t deviate but listen in rapt attention.”
The entire family loves history, mythology. Neelima, like any child, grew up listening to stories from parents, grandparents and she reminisces, “Dad told us short stories, back stories of certain characters. There was so much more than what was being told in a particular film. Our epics have great back stories, sometimes when I see these popular shows on OTT, I feel our Indian mythology has scope to be explored in a grand manner in a millennial perspective.” Finally, ask Neelima why they as a family are seldom seen socialising or being part of a film function, she says, “Yes, we go about our work without noise and are seen only if absolutely necessary, maybe during our film promotion. We don’t want to be in the media, not looking for attention. We are actually engulfed in the process of film making and so excited by our daily assignments that we don’t see a reason to hog the limelight. Having said that, I agree that times are changing and we are trying to adapt but we beyond a point don’t enjoy attention. Our parents are strict and we value privacy and we like that kind of a life.”…Y.Sunita Chowdhary
