Banking on debute vehicle

Director Jayashankarr recounts how he landed ‘Paper Boy’

Director Jayshankarr

Like Sukumar and Trivikram, director Sampath Nandi too turned producer, and has been introducing new talent. Sampath’s second project Paper Boy that is releasing this week, has newcomer Jayashankarr doning the director’s hat.This is Sampath Nandi’s story and he helped by roping in technicians as well as Santosh Sobhan and Rhea Suman, who had worked in Majnu , as the lead pair for the film .

Jayashankarr shares how he was spotted . “I got my first call from Sampath Nandi’s team after they saw my short films on Youtube as they were hunting for a director. The paper work was done, I was backed by senior technicians and I sought time. The script is very good and it was very nice of Sampath Nandi to accept a few of my ideas. After a lot of guys were auditioned, Tanu Nenu hero Santosh Sobhan was selected. “He adds, “ Paper Boy is a love story in which the hero falls in love with a professor working in Osmania University. While she hails from a royal family, he is an engineering graduate who lives in Ambedkar Colony and is a man with self respect. A paper boy’s sthanam (position ) ends at the doorstep from where he flings the newspaper. How this young paper boy proposes to her is very interesting.”

Ask him what is the conflict point in the story and shares that the hero’s job itself is a conflict, due to the disparity in status. The second half is about what the couple does for love. It is an emotional love story. First half is weaved around love and next half is about the decisions they take. It is filled with moments of love and moments of pain. Film was shot in Pune, Mumbai, Kerala, Goa and Hyderabad. Posani Krishna Murali, Annapurna and Bittiri Satti play a key role. Sounder Rajan clanked the camera and Rajeev Nair who worked for

Ishq and

Manam handled the art department. Music is scored by Bheems.

Like the film’s hero, Jayashankarr is an engineering graduate from Osmania University and even went on to work as a software developer. Being a voracious reader with an interest in Telugu literature, he kept honing his writing skills. Though a huge fan of PG Wodehouse, he also loves non-fiction. He recalls his shift from academics to films. “The short stories and plays that I wrote impressed my brother and parents; I would read the short stories published in

Eenadu daily and rewrite them; they backed my plan to do short films. People who saw them on YouTube also gave me immense confidence, with their comments and the number of views. I only made sure that with each new short film I don’t make any mistakes. I kept improving. After directing five short films, my goal was to go for crowd funding for a a low budget movie. That’s when I suddenly landed this offer.”