Anyone who gets a good rank in EAMCET would never think of films as a career, but Nandini Puli not only convinced her parents and took up Mass Communication in film studies, became an assistant director as well. Now, if things fall in place, she will soon become a director in 2015.
“I always loved watching cinema but it is only later I understood that cinema contains 24 crafts. We come from a middle class. My mother is a tailor and obviously wanted me to do well academically. They were against me joining films and I started pouring my anguish and thoughts in a book and started writing stories. I would travel by bus in Film Nagar dreaming I would be there some day and would just hang around at the studio gates; but eventually I realised that I didn’t want to be labelled as another star struck girl. Respect would be given only if I had a fair knowledge of cinema. Then began my foray into movies,” says Nandini.
In the second year of her film studies, she directed a short film, Who is blind that fetched her a State Award and after that her parents believed her seriousness for cinema. She joined director Krishna Vamsi’s team and he made her go through rigorous training from trivial things such as giving a clap to cutting trailers. She now handles all aspects of film making confidently and straddles between cinema and being a radio jockey. “I don’t treat cinema as a job, it is my life. I don’t want to work in just any film for money and survival, so I get my money from being a radio jockey. Sindhuram and Ninne Pelladutha inspired me and I have learnt to have a vision from Krishna Vamsi. My day begins with cinema and ends with it, I have no idea when I go to work and when I return but life has become one blessing.”
Many directors ask for Nandini to join their unit as she works hard and does her work with sincerity. With every production preferring a female assistant director as the heroines feel comfortable dealing with them, Nandini has become a busy person; she is currently working in all big productions as an AD. “The industry is changing, you can see a corporate atmosphere, it is like any other job and there is no taboo attached. Industry is like a mirror, it reflects your thoughts and behaviour, it all depends on what image you project. The industry encourages hard working people and talented people need no support and recommendations, says Nandini.
