He got a universal (U/A) rating for his film about three months ago and is trying hard for his product to hit at least 50 screens across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on August 4.
The debutant says his full-length feature film is a science fiction. Titled Vasham , it’s about how a person can use science to put another under a spell, taking control of his/her mind.
Srikanth Challa is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology – Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. A former employee of IBM too and a co-writer for the national award-winning film Chandamama Kathalu , he also worked with his friend Rohit Mishra as a co-writer for Vasham . He has some experience working at Rama Naidu Studios. Broadly, the film is about philosophy and science being inter-linked. “If I spoke of a man flying from one place to another or even about electricity, say some 200 years ago, people would simply term it magic. It’s something like how yoga, different musical notes and some chemicals can be used to control the mind of a person,” he says.
The film has been crowd-funded after people expressed interest after reading the script that was hosted online, on a website, for a while. Many of those who put their money are said to be the director’s friends in the mining school and also from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.
Music was composed by Jyosyabhatla Sharma with lyrics by Chakravarthula Kiran, while editing was by Satya Prasad. Behind the camera was Durgakishore, the director of photography, who has worked in films like Eat, Pray, Love , Madras Cafe and Majid Majidi , says the filmmaker.
Mr. Srikanth says the shooting was wrapped up in 25 days and 40 call sheets, using a ‘Red’ camera. The direction department also saw a techie taking three-months leave to work on the film. Interestingly, the director of Andhra Pori , Raj Madiraju, has essayed a role in Vasham and he brought on board his post-production team too.
