Hope Floats!
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K.Balachander did it once!
And now, after 18 long years, like the exiled Pandavas who won their kingdom back, the Telugu moviedom regained its pride, thanks to this one man who dared to hope… K.Sathyanarayana or Satish Kasetty as he’s better known.
Satish’s debut movie Hope has been adjudged the Best Feature Film on Social issues by the 54th National Awards Jury — Satish received his first National Award on 2nd September from the President of India.
A real life incident conveyed by his daughter, a student, inspired him so much that the passionate movie maker lurking inside him wanted to jump out and make a feature about it right away. He however worked on the subject for another year and a half: 18 long months.
Unwaveringly confident and totally committed, Satish, if asked during the course of his work, would tell his family and friends that he was working on project which, one day, would win the national award.
He knew!
But the people he approached for help did not. And it’s not their fault.
Which commercial movie maker/actor/producer would pick a subject which deals with suicide as main theme? Who would trust and sponsor a man who wanted to make his debut movie with this story?
Well, one man did. Haranath Policherla: a doctor by profession and an actor by obsession, Haranath, after listening to Satish’s story, came forward to produce it.
Satish, a good friend of Suresh Babu, then approached Suresh’s dad D.Ramanaidu, the star producer, and asked him to play the lead role!
Ramanaidu though surprised and reluctant, agreed, after hearing the story.
Meera Jasmine who was supposed to play the female lead, couldn’t adjust her dates. Her loss became Kalyani’s gain. Haranath played the other key role. With all the key players on board, with Sarath’s camera work and Ilaiyaraja’s music, the movie began.
Thus, after 6 months of preparation and with 6 million (INR) in funds, HOPE, Satish’s dream of 2 years, began taking form.
The shooting of the movie was completed in 18 days and, when released, it gave the Telugu movie industry yet another opportunity to feel good about itself — with its new progeny standing a winner in front of the first citizen — after 18 long years!
Thank you, Satish, for making us proud.
Tags: 54th Annual Award, D. Suresh Babu, D.Ramanaidu, Haranath Policherla, Hope, Ilaiya Raja, Ilaiyaraja, Ilaya Raja, K.Balachandar, K.Vishwanath, Kalyani, Meera Jasmine, National Award, Rudraveena, Saptapadi, Sarath, Satish Kasetty, Shankarabharanam, Telugu Cinema
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Sujoy Ghosh
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Satish Kasetty
Great news, though sad to say, the movie did not even as much get a mention anywhere, and none of the Telugu movie media, even bothered to write about it. Hope this award will make some difference to Telugu movie industry, which seriously needs a kick.
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True! Telugu MSM is obsessed with PRP. If only they could *sigh* pull their heads out… and see.
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welcome back boss
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“Hope” never sinks… “Hope” stays alive… “Hope” never dies.. that is life..
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Congratulation !!!
for fulfilling your Dream…
and foa Job well done.
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instead of waiting for someone to bring him flowers satish has been planting his own garden and decorating his own soul. way 2 go buddy!
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DPac: Thanks! Good to be back
Swapnesh: Indeed!
Raj: Thank you; movies like Hope and directors like Satish need all the support they can get.
sunita chowdhary: Very poetic; very true! Hope, definitely, isn’t a regular film. However, it is one of the most commendable efforts of artistic humanism to come from a debut director in Telugu. This post is therefore in the hope that Satish’s sincere and honest attempt, not counting the accomplishment and award, gets recognized as widely as possible.
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I’m not surprised at all that Satish got recognized for his work – when there’s conviction and integrity – there’s a winner! Congrats Satish!!! Hope is never lost, it is often misplaced!! Kudos to Satish!!!!!
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Such films should be shown in colleges and schools, every student and teacher/parent should be pulled into a discussion. Otherwise the purpose of such effort is lost.
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Yes, Hope is really nice movie
I think Viswanath has done it more than twice:
Sagarasangamam: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086231/
SruthiLayalu: htt://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249985/
Swarabhishekam : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420230/
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With due respects to Mr. Ramesh,
I really appreciate your interest in finding out and mentioning your discovery to the world, But sir can you put in a little more effort and research a little more deeply….
The awards that Shri K. Vishwanath Garu had be given for the movies you mentioned were ‘Best Regional Film Award’. That is an award given to one movie every year in Telugu, Which of course as you mentioned had been achieved by Vishwanath Garu more than twice.
But the award received by ‘hope’ is ‘Best Feature Film on social issues’ which is for your information NOT a Regional Film Award.
Sir, Please do proper research and post your comments so that people are not mislead.
Thanks,
regards,
Shrynika.
P.S. The article is very good. And who ever has written it had done a good job. The research is also good. hope to read more such good articles.
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Shrynika: I don’t know Shankarabharanam got the national award in this category ‘Best Feature Film on social issues’,
So I thought the writer is mentioning about the movies which were selected as Best Regional Film.
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wb bhai…wow..welcome back!!!
Didnt know about “Hope”…damn me for calling a film fanatic..here is soemthing which is cookingright inside my house and am searching for biryani somewhere else…christ!!!!
Will definitely try to see it ASAP…and congrtas to Satish Kasetty…
@ Shrynika…wb is the best :-)..search for articles written by wb bhai under the authors list and you will find gems :-)
@ wb bhai…any outline/summary of the movie?
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Om: this movie is about suicides due to/ in the present education system.
close to 8000 children are committing suicides every year.4000 students only in CBSE syllabus.
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Congratulations!!!!
I have seen the movie last year at the Hyderabad International Film Festival, I started crying by the time the movie was over. Satish sir had done a wonderful movie.
I am proud to say that i got the chance to meet him and speak to him.
Really I wish to see more movies like this… National award winning movies.. thought provoking movies… from the maker.
all the best for your future projects Satish Sir..
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@ Satish, Thanks…calling up lots of desi patel shops to see if i can get a hold of dvd…else, is there any other way i can watch it…i mean i want to pay to watch it…any screenings? any which way i can buy/rent the dvd..anything..
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Shrynika/ Ramesh/ Swaroopa : Thanks for your comments.
OM: I have tried to procure a dvd from India, but no luck. But here’s a quick blurb re the story, FWIW.
Murthy (Ramanaidu), a retired professor and a Pulitzer winning journalist, lives alone in an apartment complex. He never steps out of his house – has an old maid servant – and observes the outside world sitting in his house. As far as the outside world is concerned, he is dead.
Pooja (Kalyani) lives in the same apartment complex. Pooja’s sister who is in her 10+ commits suicide as she doesn’t get good marks in an exam. This affects the whole family. Hearing about the girl’s death, her father dies of heart attack. Pooja starts succumbing to depression. Murthy contacts Pooja and his support and motivation drives Pooja to research this evil – the suicidal tendencies in young students, the root cause and the drivers. In this endeavor, she stumbles upon Rajesh, who is in India to shoot a documentary on the dead professor Murthy (not knowing that Murthy is still alive). Rajesh and Pooja join forces to do their research on the dead students, and helping them in the process is Haranath who runs schools that follow a different, de-stressed, style of education.
Having finished her research Pooja organizes a seminar on the current education system and the stress that the present system of education causes in young students. Though down and beaten by cancer, Murthy attends the seminar and melts every heart with his speech about the critical need for changing the ominous nature of our Macaulay education system. Leaving everyone (including the viewers) teary-eyed, Murthy breathes his last.
Satish Kasetty: Wow! It’s a real pleasure seeing your comment here. Welcome to PFC! And congratulations on your stupendous achievement! It would be an honor, sir, to hear more from you – if you’re able to share with our readers your experiences in making Hope and your next plans.
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Wow..wb bhai..that was reaaly reaaly well written..and more so to Sathish…every person be it you me, the rich and famous the autowala…feels there is something wrong with the education system..thats all we do…drink over it of fart over it….stupendous job sathish for making a film on it…now i am more than eager to watch it…
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wb:that was really,really well written. i think that was one of the best.
thanks for your invitation, i will surely write here. right now i am busy with my new script, i will wrap it up in a weeks time, then i would like to share my thoughts and experiences at PFC
Om : if you want a copy of the movie, or any one else wants a copy, please send me your address i will send you a copy(not a good quality).
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I did catch this movie recently, on one of the Telugu movie channels, think it was Teja. It was a really fabulous movie. Great job Satish, and nice to see you here. Something really rots with our educational system, and the problem has got just worse in recent times. Even if you score 99.99% marks, people fret that you have not done well. Is our life being determined by just some meaningless percentages.
Also being in the corporate sector for past 8 years, i have observed that most of these brilliant toppers, just lack the necessary skills to survive. Team spirit,adaptability, the ability to think out of the box, innovativenes, all that is sorely missing. They can put a line from point A to point B, but have no clue about how many ways one can put a line.
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OM: “more so to Sathish” My feelings exactly.
Satish: Thank you for your kind words. And got your message. It great news! Will get back to you sooner than later.
Ratnakar: That’s spot on. I’ve seen some of those topper-tagged-corporates.
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