I speak movies
Heyy! I was also bored during this quarentine and made an edit using 96 and ENE soundtrack. But sadly Instagram and Facebook didn’t allow me to post( copyright issues with SunTV). So I’m using my blog to publish this. Hope you’ll like it 🙂
Admit it. Vivek Sagar’s Yellow star cover is lit 🧡. Hope you’ve enjoyed this video🙂. TQ.
My List of Top 12 Production Design works in Telugu Films
Production Design is all about creating and organizing a physical world around the story of a film.As the head of the Art Department, the production designer is incharge of making sure that every shooting location is perfectly prepared and is on point with the vision of the filmmaker. Visual Storytelling is the language of the film, so the visuals captured by the camera matter immensely. Locations, sets, costumes, lights, etc. all work together to create a world on screen and this world plays a crucial part in telling your film story.
Well, the term ‘Production Design’ was introduced to the Telugu film world recently. Previously, they were credited as ‘Art Director’. So in this article, I’ll be talking about my favourite Tollywood art directors’ works. I will not be involving Bahubali in my list for obvious reasons.
Here’s the list of my top 12 Production Design works of this decade in Telugu Film Industry.
‘Kache’ is a movie based on WW2. Krish Jagarlamudi was so keen on creating an ambience that he used original WW2 weaponry in the movie. ‘Kanche’ is surely a good movie with great visual sets of war fields, old libraries, German streets etc.
11.Lie – Kolla Avinash
Hanu Raghavapudi(Director of ‘Lie’) is really brilliant in staging the scenes. And his staging definitely demands some creative sets. Movie ‘Lie’ looks rich because of its great quality Production Design.
10.Ghazi – Shivam Rao
Since 75% of this movie runs in a submarine, production design plays a key role in keeping the audience glued to their seats and you already know how successful it was.
9.Bharat Ane Nenu – Suresh Selvarajan
There are many Telugu movies with Assembly scenes in them but none of them recreated the Assembly as accurately as it was done in ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’. This movie has a beautiful Production Design but I felt lighting and framing(D.O.P work) failed this beauty.
8.Brahmotsavam – Thota Tharani
You might find the inclusion of this movie in this list, for that matter in any list funny. But National award winner Thota Tharani’s work in this film is marvelous. It’s like he’s got all the money in the world to create sets for this movie. Sets used in songs like Bala Tripurmani are something that tollywood has never seen, so fresh and unique.
7.Agnyaathavaasi – A.S.Prakash
Same goes with this movie.This entry might sound funny but Production Design and frames with truly balanced colours is the only reason I was able to watch Agnyaathavaasi four times on big screen (Yes!! You read it correctly. I had to.The disaster couldn’t be avoided.Now, Don’t feel bad for me :P)
6.Manu – Shiv Kumar Akula
In my previous article I mentioned how beautiful Manu is in every craft. Production Design of Manu is good enough to take you to its own world.
5.Andala Rakshasi – S. Rama Krishna
Andala Rakshasi is one of the main reasons I think Hanu Raghavapudi is so creative. With the help of his Art director, he made a face with beer bottles,birds with screws and nuts etc. Rajamouli once mentioned that in his movie ‘Eega’ ,the fly training with the filament and the tape was Raghavapudi’s idea and this guy used all his talent to build the world of ‘Andala Rakshasi’
4.Rangasthalam – S.Ramakrishna,Monika Niggotre
I don’t even need to take the help screenshots to make you think about the sets of this movie. Ramakrishna masterfully created an entire village and took us back to the 1980’s effortlessly.
3.Awe – Sahi Suresh
If you have watched this film then you know why this is on my list. Six different sets were designed for six different acts based on the genre of the scene. This can easily be ranked as one of the best among all Indian movies in the Production Design category.
2.Mahanati – Shivam Rao
Recreating the sets of old movies itself is a huge and difficult task but in this film not only it was done with ease and perfection but other sets such as Maduravani’s house and office were also top-notch. ‘NTR – Kathanayakudu’ also tried something similar but the concept of colours made Mahanati the best. Production Design also travels along the phases of life of Savitri and screenshots above explain this. It was all bright and red when she was growing. Then evolved brighter and gold when she was successful. Everything was dark and broken during her fall. Engaging and Innovative :’)
1.Ee Nagaraniki Emindi – Latha Tarun
Initially I was confused between ‘Mahanati’ and ‘ENE’ but when I realised that the Production Design of ENE was made on a very low budget when compared to Mahanati I felt this was the best. Not only the sets that are present in the images I attached but there were many other amazing sets that were present in many other scenes like when Karthik’s head injury cuts or the ones in jail or when Shirley sings etc were beautifully designed. That is the reason why ‘Ee Nagariki Emindi’ tops my list.
Special Mention:
(Though this movie doesn’t belong to this decade) Athadu and Arjun by Thota Tharani. Remember that entire Madhurai temple set?
Janatha Garage,Dhada,Anaganaga O Dheerudu are also some remarkable works.
This is my list of favourite Production Design works. Comment below your favourites and share them with me.
Thanks for reading – Yashwanth Seelam 😀
A story of Desire
Manu – a film directed by Phanindra Narsetti. ‘Phanindra Narsetti’ this name was enough for 112 movie lovers to produce Manu. We all know Manu is a crowd funded movie I’m pretty sure they all did it because of one person. A person who made short films like Madhuram,Her,Backspace etc made an impression to everyone that he will be a revolutionary filmmaker of Tollywood. But Manu didn’t do as good as expected. May be because it’s too artistic to understand or maybe a bit hard to stay with the movie while watching. That is why they call it new age cinema I guess. Keeping aside how it did or why it didn’t, Manu is like a painting made with a lot of painting references (Landscapes,Portraits etc). Below frame is inspired from John Constable’s painting Hove Beach (I came to know about this after watching Manu’s colorist’s interview :P)
There are a lot of frames with references of these kinds. Music,colors and sets everything narrates the story of Manu in it’s own style. These details are evident that team of Manu maintained their artwork as artistic as possible. So I thought Manu is a movie with a lot of hidden details to be decoded. But I found Manu’s storytelling pretty straight-forward. That might be because either I couldn’t find anything or it is actually straight-forward. Anyway, watching Manu for the second time was a beautiful experience and I decided to break Manu down on what made it so beautiful.
Story of Manu followed a basic Three act structure.
PS: Couldn’t make one illustration . Sry for the poor drawing.
Movie basically tells us two stories. 1) Manu,Neela and Killer. A love story which involves a villain 2) Neela, Father and three goons. A revenge story for killing her father.
Writers gave us the initiation of these two stories in Act one. Manu meets Neela for the first time, Manu meets her father then his father shares his desire that his valuable diamond should belong to his valuable daughter, Three goons killed her father for that diamond.Then Manu movie title shows up indicating story has been started(End of act one).In Act two writer showcases his talent with a complicated screenplay. In Act three Manu finds the killer, Neela finds Manu is also dead, Killing the killer and seeking revenge, both of them finds out where their love led them to, Neela gets that diamond.So, it’s totally like a conclusion to everything that started in Act one. This is the structure of the story of Manu.
‘Manu’ in detail
Story of Manu is a tale of emotions – Love,Greed,Revenge,Pain. So every technician did his/her best in bringing out that emotion. Music is very compelling so as to delivering us the emotion before story could move on. Colours did their part in the movie. Manu always wears black, Neela wears warm colours etc. Did you know that Blue colour is used to show coldness,isolation,cerebral,melancholy,passivity,calm nature?. And that is who exactly Manu is. Manu’s wall is blue in colour indicating his nature.Shades of green are used to show danger,ominous and yellow is used to show insecurity,obsession. Now you can find out how these two colours are mixed in Neela’s flat shows required emotions (Neela’s wall is green in colour and most of the objects are in yellow). Change in shades lead to different emotion. For example pale green shows immaturity but dark green shows envy.Even the tiles of Manu’s room are like a chess board. I feel that Phanindra Narsetti is an artist obsessed with detailing. His camera techniques like macro photography,very tight closeups and dialogues with deeper meanings are evident to his detailed storytelling.For example In one shot Manu is under a railway bridge which tells us about his dark side and childhood. When he starts to share about his mother who left him at the age of 7, a train comes showing Manu’s feelings are uprising all of a sudden inside him. An eagle is shown when Neela meets the goon at the sea-side,an eagle searching for its prey.
Manu and Neela
Manu is a guy who bears a lot inside him and never shares anything. Which is why he always wears black(A colour which absorbs everything and doesn’t emit it out).He is a local artist who paints only with black expressing what he is feeling. Neela is a girl who spends most of her time with herself with habits like stitching,photography,drawing,growing plants,music etc. Both of them have one main thing in common which is ‘Loneliness’ . That is the reason why Neela is interested in Manu. A simple love story of a boy and a girl falling in love with each other’s nature. Entire love story is told in one scene where Neela gifts him a painting. A painting similar to Manu’s painting. Manu’s version is balck in colour. A boy is in pain. A girl hiding her face with an axe showing her fear,dead trees,bats,vultures,cactus. Neela’s version is colourful. A boy dressed black and is in pain. A girl with a rose expressing her love,green trees,pleasant surroundings. This one scene clearly shows the root of their love. Neela is in love with his hidden pain and is ready to bring colours into his world. She was fond of his dark painting and was able to create a colourful version out of it.
Conclusion
Like I told Manu is a story which tells us about the strength of desire. Manu’s unexpressed love and Neela’s incomplete revenge didn’t let them to leave this world. Finally the movie ends when Neela gets her father’s diamond which was a desire as well. May be her father’s desire was the base of the entire movie. Manu means the progenitor of the human race and giver of the religious laws of Manu. It also means still alive .(As told in the movie) Personally I felt Manu as ‘Manalo Okadu’. We all have darkness in us like Manu who is like the colour black. Waiting for something to fill that part with colours and that something gives birth to desire.Pain,Revenge,Suffering are very personal and nothing is personal in front of love. That might be the reason Manu took part in Neela’s revenge and ended her suffering. They shared their death as well. So Manu’s Love is full of purest things like pain,revenge and death. It was great enough to share them all and fight with them. This is love.Pure love. Strong enough to live a life. Born from nothing and became everything.
That is why I think Manu is a great love story beautifully painted which was more than enough to move us and make us love Manu the movie
Thanks for reading – Yashwanth Seelam
Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities… much more so than music or language.D.O.P is a technician who tells the storytelling with the flow of images. He uses the camera as a weapon.”Cinematography is the writing with images in movement and with sounds” said Robert Bresson. Sure it is. Tollywood is now celebrating a new era of storytelling. Movies like Arjun Reddy, Care of Kancherapalem, Awe, Kshanam proved this. Not only with brilliant stories and talents but cinematography also took a new evolution in Tollywood. Mahanati and Rangasthalam are such movies in 2018 that left the audience imagining few snaps even long after watching them in theaters. Few of my observations are now being shared with you. I hope you’ll like reading them.
“Not knowing the language actually helped me. Because I have to tell the story through the subtext of what the actors actually mean through my camera work”
the Spanish cinematographer Dani Sanchez-Lopez ( D.O.P of Mahanati)
Dani Sanchez-Lopez saysv thatUper 16mm and Alexa with V-lite anamorphic and Master Prime lenses as well as a progression of diffusion and different vintage lights were used for Mahanati to bring back Mahanti Savitri Garu back to life in our silver screens.Usage of vintage equipment is really brilliant to take us back to the 1960s.
As the story begins with the childhood of Savitri there are a lot of greens and brown shades as they are the colours of the earth. Once Savitri starts growing as an actor more hues of gold are introduced. When she becomes superstar more gold and shots are brighter. When her downfall began it’s all blue ( being colder colour) contrasted by layers of darkness. The love story track between Gemini Ganeshan is filled with red, the colour of love and the colours around Ganeshan gets greener to represent envy. This is really a brilliant play of colours.
Madhuravani sequence has shots that the main subject out of focus, lot of noise, less sharpness and irregular diffusion of light to create the vintage feel of the 1980s.
Movies like Arjun Reddy, Awe also have a similar way of storytelling using colours.
Rangasthalam’s story revolves around a made-up place with brilliantly written characters. And these characters and locations were shot beautifully which helped Sukumar to involve the audience into Rangasthalam in no time.
Rangasthalam got beautiful colour pallets. Observe that 1st screenshot everything is filled with white or shades of brown. Whether it be a shirt or wall everything is in relative contrast.Similarly the other two screenshots.
I was shocked that they used to smoke and dust to blur the background. The clear background helps the subject or the character being more focused on the play. But Rangasthalam is a place where people are in groups( like in villages) and the set needs to be constructed in a disordered way. So the background of most of the frames is with more unnecessary elements. But they are covered with smoke and dust of shades of light(Sunlight). I felt this was brilliant.
Not only these films there are few other special mentions like the use of square aspect ratio in Care of Kancherapalem which helps in focusing on the character in storytelling, rapid focus shifts in Mahanati, macro shots in Manu etc.
Cinematography being important for cinema, it’s great to have a lot of improvement in Tollywood. Though young cinematographers like Karthik gattamaneni, Shaneil Deo, P.S.Vinod are inspiring with their works few D.O.P’s high budget movies like Bharat Ane Nenu, Jailavakusa disappointed with best camera equipment and production design. Recently KGF challenged new way cinematography where frames are with high contrast, sharp and darker shades but it failed to maintain it all along with the movie and resulted in discomfort for the audience sometimes during the movie.
This new evolution is impressive and is making me glad that Tollywood is growing bigger and better.
Hope u liked this article 🙂
Nerd Writer