Prashant Kumar may have been residing in Hyderabad for the last 13 years, and knew cinema well, but the Bihari had never watched Telugu films. In fact his only connections with Telugu films were Kranti Madhav and Sandeep Reddy who had studied filmmaking at Manipal with him; they would discuss cinema and seek his feedback.
Following the course in Manipal, Prashant started his advertising agency, and returned to Hyderabad from Bihar. Once he saw the art of storytelling on sets, he resolved to make a film. Not doing anything in the last three years, he went into depression, with suicidal tendencies.
Looking back, he is thankful for the lulls, “Given the temperamental issues I had earlier, I am thankful no actor left me when I shouted at them. They had faith in me and my abilities. I pulled myself in and did honest work, and thankfully I completed the film Mithai .”
So what triggered the idea behind the surrealist dark comedy Mithai ? One night, Prashant had come home drunk and left the door open. The next morning, when he saw the door open, he began thinking of what could have happened. He reveals, “My mind wondered ‘why did I leave the door open when I was drunk? I might have lost my job and why would I have lost it? Could it be because of my boss?’ I began keying in the story at 11pm and by 3am I had finished the interval scene. After that I had a mental block, but I eventually finished the remaining portions. I put all that I had on WhatsApp onto my email ID. It was a 16-page story and when I told the story to Rahul and Sandeep, they liked it.” Prashant went on to develop a proper script, dialogues and screenplay, all in English.
Then he contacted some popular writers for dialogues in Telugu . When they didn’t understand his dark comedy, he contacted Rahul Ramakrishna. Then music director Vivek Sagar came on board. Prashant says, “Whatever I visualised was implemented with the help of my team. I gained confidence, opened my office and hired people. I am a big fan of the Coen brothers; my film is a tribute to their style of filmmaking; dark comedy features events going from bad to worse for good people in the film and things getting better and better for the antagonists.”
Prashant’s family were of great support. His father withdrew money from his provident fund and his brother took a loan for the film. The filmmaker says if the film becomes a hit, he will get money to make his second film. He wants to make something he’d be proud of watching. Regarding the title, Sandeep suggested Mithai since there was underlying philosophy around the subject. He quips, “I am not giving gyaan , but people will read what they want to from the scenes; it is their own interpretation. I explored myself in the filmmaking process, I have evolved as a person. The journey has been so nice.”
Prashant likes spending time with actors and observing their body language. He felt Priyadarshi and Rahul Ramakrishna would complement each other well in the film.
What do the goat and donkey do in the movie? “I wanted a dog. The goat and donkey came out of my limitations. The budget for dogs was big; I am not paying that much even to my actors in the film, so I replaced it with a goat. The goat doesn’t do much, it is only a symbolising factor. I got a donkey instead of a horse. So I cut costs and got in symbolism too,” says Prashant.
The post production is in full swing. Finally, Prashant says he has an awesome crew for his film, adding, “I did not want many newcomers in the crew, otherwise my film would look amateurish.”
