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a little bit of avakai in my life…
As I sit watching the edit happen on my movie Avakai-Biryani (Mango Pickled Biryani), I am reminded about how all of this first started……..
Back in 2006. Sekhar Kammula’s ‘Godavari’ had just released to good reviews but to an unfavorable box office response, finally ending as an ‘average’ film business wise. Having worked as both the executive producer and associate director on the film, I gave it my all and I mean MY ALL, shooting in the middle of that amazing river for a 100 days, with more than a 100 people on board 3 launches, bang in the middle of the monsoon, with the heaviest rainfall and floods being recorded ever, the production of Godavari was a truly life changing experience for me, something I will take to my grave, something that made me believe that we could shoot on Mt.Everest next if we wanted to….something that really made a filmmaker out of me…
and watching it not making it in the box office, disheartened me, depressed me and pushed me into the blackest phase of my professional career…..I was questioning why I had spent the last 10 years of my life in this cynical-tough as nails-bitchy-unforgiving place called ‘the film industry’…
Sekhar had me take time off, I went on a bit of a soul searching trip across the konkan…drifting from one low to another….this trip was just a pretext to finally sit down and write a feature film, something Sekhar has been goading me to do since my ‘Anand’ days with him…little did he know, I was only making the trip to escape from the industry here in Hyderabad….The ‘Godavari’ experience left me feeling bitter about the people working here and the public….I was hard headed, I know, but I thought I needed to get away and re- renew my career…..my life….
This was when I tried to write something ‘happy’…something optimistic…something inspirational….something lighthearted….the result was Avakai-Biryani…but….I didn’t actually write the entire draft of ‘AB’ while on my trip on the konkan….instead I would write and leave it midway to wallow in self pity and a few vodkas, the depression wouldn’t leave me…..but I still managed to write a treatment which will make COF look like HAHK. (sigh….alright the full form “Hum Aapke Hain Koun”)
Anyways….The result of all of this was “confessions of a filmmaker”-(shot on HD-released on the internet, with assistance from PFC)…….but then, let me skip a few chapters after that….and talk about the immediate past and the imminent future….
Avakai Biryani….my first movie…my immediate past and my imminent future…
Hello PFC readers, don’t think anyone here would have missed me….but I am happy to be back, writing again…
Right after “Happy Days” began my “Happy Phase” (corny-I know)….but seriously, the super success of Sekhar’s ‘Happy Days’ revitalized me….so much so that I re-visited my once darkly written AB script….
The result was a happy, progressive, optimistic ,movie draft….which I was happy to present to Sekhar and which he readily agreed to produce….
And so today as I sit watching the edit….I am also reminded about what big adventures it took to make this small film…..but more about that in a later post….
For now cheers PFC readers.
25 Responses to “a little bit of avakai in my life…”
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O dyaaammm…. look who’s back!
oh WOW ….
pls pls pls more dope on AB ….
avvakai biryani the title itself sounds too good !!!
and anish ….just wanted to share this thought wth u ..javed akhtar has said that slowly frustration changes to cynicism …which in tur eventually lends itself to humor ….
wondering how true/relavent it might be in ur case …
cheers …
Yo bud….all set to savor the “mango pickled biryani”.Judging by your mood,seems that AB is shaped very well.
Spice up the biryani,dost….crank up the heat…add the masalas…and whet our appetites for a delightful biryani.
kya miyan…sirf aam daalte kya….thoda chicken,mutton bhi dalo.
ur dost from iict:-)
~SA
oyye Anish…welcome welcome…been waiting for this for quite some time now…the name Avakai biryani…itself sounds interesting….waiting for more…btw…
Wahhh re wahhh….kahan pe the inthne din….
good luck with your future…provide some more dope on Avakai….
all the best anish !!!
hey…welcome back…. eagerly waiting for AB…. can you tell us more about the plot and star cast… and by the way godavari was a decent movie…the movie and songs had the bapu touch to it
welcome back anish! you’ve already wet my appetite with the title.. after all, who doesn’t love avakkai?? needless to say, awaiting more details…
Hey Anish … fucking interesting title man … AB …
hope you get more recognition and “accolades” .. COF was good and out-right bullish with its content. AB …. mind posting the draft version of the script for the PFC readers?
is it a very hyderabadi thing to have avakai with biryani ?
cause ive never heard of this combination ever before :S
After I read about your dissent on public reaction to Godavari, I wanted to share my views. Honestly speaking, I dint like Godavari as much I liked Anand. Many reasons. In Godavari Music was excellent, locations were awesome, story was good…but all these put together…I dint feel it came out as one unit. I felt there were many unnecessary sub plots…like that faction leader and her daughter coming on board and the night fight…the Astrologer and parrot plot was a bit dull, the dog part was good but it had too many conversations with other dogs etc…Basically I felt that the subplots decreased the pace of the movie. I like the lead characters very well. Especially heroes maradalu’s character was very well done….one who cannot make a right decision, one who changes decisions as time goes by….kamalinis character was my favorite.. a bubbly..frank…outspoken girl.
I had lot of expectations on “andanga lena” song picturization…but I dint feel it had that lovely romantic feel. Maybe When I was listening to the music I had my own vision and picturization for the song…may be I dint like it…may be my vision/view dint match sekhar’s presentation.
Talking about Happy Days…that too is a good movie by then again Anand stays on top. I liked Happy Days for the fact that till then there was no movie in Telugu Industry which narrated a Clean Urban College Students Story without useless/senseless student-lecturers jokes, without senseless third grade comedy and without hope less hero’s sidekicks. Music…Awesome..Characters..awesome…some scenes…heart melting…but as a whole 99% :). Almost all engineering students would have correlated some scene or the other with their real life. That is what made Happy Days a stupendous hit. If I had to rank Sekhar’s stuff…it would be 1. Anand 2. Dollar Dreams 3. Happy Days 4. Godavari
Enough of Shekar’s stuff. Tell me about your movie!! Who is doing the Music? when is the first promo coming out!! keep us informed man!!….
Regards
vito_parry
PS: Anish, I have missed COFM man. Please help me find a DVD pleaseeeeeeeee
Hey Bidu,
Good to have u back.I missed u
Looking forward to watch AB.
Cheers
Siraj
hey anish, welcome back. yes some of us missed u and were wondering where u vanished! great to know about ur film. n when will the biryani be ready ?
kaka….. vachinavaa…. channa dinal nunchi wait chesthunam….. amanna cheppu… happy days sucks…..
hope AB doesnt dissapoint……
Eagerly Awaiting Avakai Biryani…… Good to see you back here! :)
:) cant be more happier. which means lots of things in progress…
there is also this term called ‘uuragai’. After the avakai is prepared it is left to marinate for some time for the perfect taste so that the avakai soaks in enough oil. I know a lot of people missed all the preperation process but will now rejoice these posts on the post :)
Hai anish garu, nenu shekhar sir ni, mimmalni kalisanu(amigos office lo),i think Godavari technical ga, chala manchi movie. madi godavari prakkane, kaani ee movie chusaka anipinchindi godavari inta andanga unda ani. kaani anand loni rupa character lo unnanta magic ‘godavari’ loni seetamahalakshmi character lo ledu. i think aa character narration inka bagundavalisindi or aa character ki kamilini ni select chesukokunda undavalisindi. appudu anand ni godavari ni compare chesukokunda undevaru. plus raji pellichesukundam ani cheppinappudu movie peak loki velutundi, kaani aa tarvata climax scenes antaga audience daham teerchaleka poyayi. i think dis is the reason for film average.
Anyway AB big hit avvalani, alaage ‘anand’ loni raju lanti characters inka cheyyalani korukuntunnanu. i like that character also very much. chala natural ga untundi.Pleaaaaase naa comment ki responce ivvandi.
All the best for ‘Avakaya Biryani(Mango Pickle Biryani)’
hi anish.
how are you? i have to go thorugh the news papers to know about avakai biryani. well, wanted to call you several times. but i misplced my phone twice. so lost your contact.
i am eager to know more about avaai biryani directly from you. i hope i am not demanding much. after all i am the faceless lover of kamal in COF.
anyway hope to meet you soon.
regards
nischala
yummm
Welcome back Anish..
Good to know that we are gonna have more dope on AB. All the best to you and Kamal.
When are you planning to release the movie. Waiting to catch it on day-1.
Buddy…I have a different opinion
Godavari..was a feel good movie, i liked it immensly..except lack of clarity in sumanths character, somewhere down the line there are many unaswered questions to his attributes shown in the movie n i felt sumanth actig was just ok..madhavan wud have done brilliant job (initially hes was considered for this role).
Coming to happydays..its is a classisc geeky movie..i dint like it..but somehow..it was dealt cleverly to keep viewers attention. Kudos to Dil raju for his exaustive marketing n publicity.
N ur moviem Avakayi biryani (primary target is NRI’s i suppose),,, plss add some realism man..hardly i see any telugu movie dealing with natural elements.
hey kamal n anish,
title really got me!! waitin for it to rock…
i presume, kamal z gonna lead d cast…
good wishes…
Hi anish…
coool u are back …and i wish all the best for what ever u do….waiting for ur AB feeling hungry…..
Well. It’s time to prove that you are not among the Telugu film makers you talked about in your short film “Confessions of FM”. We are going to compare your film making with others using the scale “COFM”. The title is different and unrealistic (nobody makes biryani with avakayi). Let’s hope that your movie is also different and proves that, making delicious biryani with avakayi is also possible. Good Luck and Best Wishes.