Director Rom Bhimana at Annapurna 7 Acres, is immersed in giving final touches to his film Aakatayi , what promises to be a technical extravaganza that features a host of newcomers. He was insulated from films by a disciplined upbringing, until an event that had a film star for a chief guest in his school changed his perception about the medium. “I was curious about why so many people were crazy about films. I realised storytelling nuances after watching more films. I was into art and since my father was a photographer, my world was always surrounded by film negatives. How these reels came together on the big screen was pure magic to me,” says the MBA and psychology graduate, who had also studied direction and screenplay writing in UK and Ireland.
The filmmaker who was in the direction team of the Telugu film Hum Tum earlier, credits his UK-grooming to whatever he knows about films today, especially screen-writing. That’s when his name changed from ‘Ram’ to ‘Rom’, with most people pronouncing his name as ‘Rawm’ anyway. “I even acted in a Hollywood film. The world was different there. Global exposure is very necessary to understand the craft. As much as I say that, I love Telugu films and the commercial elements. Understanding practicalities of our industry was another challenge after I was done with academics. Given, I’m just starting now, you would see my sensibilities in a commercial exterior for Aakatayi ,” he tells us.
The film’s technical relevance commands attention for the fact that it puts aspects such as ‘Philips Carousel Effect’ and ‘POV shootout’ to use, a first of a kind attempt in Telugu films. The Carousel effect involves the merging of both the present and flashback sequences in one, where a character imagines a flashback sequence in the same vicinity as his (as the flashback unfolds, he’s also a part of it) while POV shootout gives a 360 degree view of the atmosphere around the character.
“The need for these effects is situational. As the audience is tired of watching the same-old fights and chases, these aspects will help them see a scene in a new light,” he promises. What he would ideally want as a filmmaker for his future projects is to spend more time on post-production.
“Here, people want the product out in the market as soon as the shoot is done. The business needs take over the creative process. We have to work with it.”
