These children are blissful, with no caste, creed or religion. Like raw and unpolished pearls that are washed ashore, the children strayed into the slum. The one binding factor that unites them — they are orphans. “Under normal family conditions they would have had every chance to prove their worth. It is in the hands of the haves among the society to take care of such children. The society should have the heart to adopt them and prevent their lives turning bizarre,” says producer-director Sai Venkat. He is shooting a song sequence for Swarna Bharathi Creations’ Galli Kurrollu on the streets of Hyderabad and Shamshabad. “The theme deals with five such children, their life and where they are headed.” Naga Varma, Shafali Sharma and Mano Chandu play the characters that grow up in the slum.
Senior actress Kavitha is cast as a social activist who adopts one of the five children who becomes a scientist. “Chandra Mohan adopts another child. He becomes an assistant commissioner of police. The other three fortunate orphans grew up to be a doctor, an engineer and a music director. There are others in the slum who are left at the mercy of anti-social elements. Two of them turn into dreaded extremists (played by ‘Dil' Ramesh and Surya) posing a threat to the nation's security.” Sai Venkat says that 30 per cent of the movie deals with childhood episodes of the central characters. He reels out these details as we move from one location to the other and finally settles down on the street that leads to Shamshabad.
Naga Varma, Shafali Sharma, Chandu and hundreds of crowds participated in the shoot. They march forward while the song Jayahe …matharam…vandematharam…maa Bharatha mathaki…matharam… vandematharam… ma challani thalliki mansa manasa matharam… vandematharam…mana Bharatha mathaki jayaho …' is played.
“It also happened to be Veturi Sundarama Murthy's last song. He made the corrections in the lyric and wrote four extra lines in case we need them, from his hospital bed four days prior to his demise. He said to me that the last time he wrote a lyric on a hospital bed was — dorakuna ituvanti seva … for Sankarabharanam . “This song will also become such a rage,' he assured me. We are playing only the track. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam will be rendering the final version,” said Sai Venkat as we listen to the full song composed by Sai Karthik. The patriotic song comes in the film's climax.
Venkat says though he had toyed with this theme for some time now, he received the confidence only after watching the tremendous success of Slumdog Millionaire . “The support the media gave to that film was enough to boost my confidence levels. I always wished to make a socially-relevant movie that not only wins popular appeal but also gets coveted awards.” He said that he and his unit visited many slums, orphanages and juvenile homes for a first hand information. “We shot the film in real-life locations.”
Sai Venkat is planning to launch the audio on October 2. “We are releasing Veturi garu's Vandematharam song as a tribute to him amidst hundreds of students and the venue will be decided soon.” Though he has taken up a serious subject, the narrative has light bantered digs too. Brahmanandam plays an interesting character. Written by Saritha Murali, the movie is co-produced by T. Murali Krishna.
