Director Prashant Mandava can’t stop smiling. His debut film Pratinidhi starring Nara Rohit is releasing this month plus he’s getting married this week. He had faced anxious and tense moments during the shoot but managed to wrap up the film in 29 days. On the first day of the shoot, he missed the road to the location (RFC) and headed elsewhere; he was supposed to begin the shoot at 6 p.m. but started at 9 p.m.. A nail pierced his foot on the third day and then Rohit had a serious fall and injured himself. “Rohit went for his dinner break and I thought he won’t come back, but he surprised me by joining the unit immediately after getting first aid ,” says Prashant.
How did he come to be associated with the film? “My friend Anand Ravi came up with this story and asked me if I would be interested in directing it. I agreed and Rohit who knew me since Shankara gave his green signal. It is a political story, a hero representing the problems of the people. It is not a commercial film but has all the commercial elements in it. This film will also be an asset and make a huge difference to Rohit’s career,” Prashant avers.
Prashant loves watching Krishna Vamsi’s films and had decided to take up direction only after seeing Gulabi which released when he was in the final year of schooling. He left his post graduation midway had worked eight years as an assistant and an associate director before bagging this chance. One wonders why he needed so many years of apprenticeship? Prashant explains, “I would take one year break between each film and my parents would become restless. Actually one learns everything with movie production and direction with two films but people stick on just for survival. Even that is not necessary. A few like Ramgopal Verma directed a film without assisting anyone. He worked for Collector Gari Abbayi and half way through he came out and started Shiva,” points out Prashant.
