When Shiva Kandukuri left for higher studies to the U.S., he didn’t think he would be back in India soon to take up acting as a career. He finished engineering and interned for nine months; he wanted to take a break and then get back to do Masters later. As his debut Telugu film Chusi Chudangane draws close, he is a picture of confidence. He recalls how he got into the team, “I knew if I wanted to do a film, my father (Raj Kandukuri, producer of Pelli Choopulu ) would back me up but I wanted gain confidence first in my ability to act and be on my own without depending on him. It so happened that dad, who’s the producer, came across the script of Chusi chudangaane and liked it. At that time, director Sesha Sindhu was auditioning actors and asked my dad if he’d be okay if she cast me in the film. Thereafter things moved briskly. She was convinced I’ll be good for the character. I thought the script was drawn from real life and wasn’t put together for the sake of the film.”
Raj Kandukuri had produced successful films, but when it came to his son, he was clear that after this film’s release, he should be on his own. The son couldn’t have agreed more.
In college Shiva did theatre in every semester as it was one of his electives. Back in India, he got trained under prominent people and did various workshops. He enjoyed the transition from theatre to cinema. “Theatre gives you an opportunity to explore yourself, you can use the space as much as you want. In cinema you are in a confined space. While theatre is all about how you perform, in cinema you learn how to react. It gives exposure to understand the depth of other person’s character than your own.”
Shiva emphasises that when he wanted to get into cinema, the thought wasn’t about aspiring to be a star. He wanted to enjoy the process of filmmaking and getting into characters. He talks about how his father was consistently making efforts to pick stories that are relatable to every day characters, the real people. “Something where people say we have been in such situations. This is an extremely natural film, it has a sound emotional connect. To put it in a nutshell, it is the life story of Siddhu who is a wedding photographer but aims to be a fashion photographer. He grows up in his mother’s shadow and has no interest in engineering. These days engineering is about job security, not many are passionate about it. The jobs that people do is not related to engineering. When I heard the script, I felt it happens in every household. The female characters are also very strong.”
About his performance in the film, Shiva says he did a reasonably good job. When he stepped into the industry, he was unsure of himself and didn’t know if he had the skill set. He set a bar for himself and thinks he reached that level. Henceforth he wants to do experimental stories. He’s glad, he came at a time when there is a shift in audience taste. “There is a majority of audience who still love regular commercial cinema. Cinema is a reflection of society and it is evolving. People spend the same amount for big or a small film. So when the audience watches a small budget film, we have to do something different to entertain them,” he signs off.
