It is yet another story of a young man from Hyderabad who left his job in the USA to fulfil his dream of making a movie. There is a difference, it is not a crossover film but is a movie made in English with foreign actors. “I'll be 60 one day and I don't want to regret why I didn't make the film,” says Chandra Pemmaraju who's busy with the post production of his feature film Love Lies and Seeta (LLS). It is an independent American film, an urban comedy focusing on the youth. There are six characters and the story revolves around Seeta but not entirely on her. Chandra elaborates, “Seeta is an adopted daughter of American parents and she doesn't believe in love but one summer when she and the rest of her friends are hanging out, how the rest of the peers fall for her is the story.”
New York City is famous for its Broadway shows, there are so many artistes and all of them are known to be talented and professional. So when an independent film maker like Chandra with a limited budget and time constraint, embarked on the idea of LLS, he couldn't have thought of a better place than New York. The director adds, “Music in the film is not by a single musician, I found independent rock band artistes, one from Chennai and most of them from Boston gave me their CDs and now it's been improvised. Even the people not connected directly with the film are great. They like their work, become extras rather than people who stand and watch. Fifty percent of New York has been covered from locations to people and language.”
Chandra reveals that he secured funds from different sources after he pitched in this project and 2000 people auditioned for the film; after the screen test, he got the permission to shoot. His degrees from Central University and Osmania helped him a great deal in handling the business part of the film, and dealing with the cast and crew. The director had made films of independent narrative of 30 minutes each and had them screened at festivals. He is aiming to send LLS to the Sundance, Toronto, Palm Spring film festivals and many more. LLS has been shot over 28 days in summer on RED, language used is conversational English and the run time is one hour fifty minutes. Chandra signs off, “My film will be ready in a couple of months. I'm very confident of the US and the international market, but I want it to be seen in India too.”
