A few years ago, the job of a female assistant director (AD) was to help actresses with costumes and prompt their dialogues. Now an AD does much more than that.
After working as an AD for five films, Sesha Sindhu bagged her debut directorial film Choosi Chudangane . She shares, “I worked for films such as Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum and Kumari 21F. I worked in different departments in the industry to understand filmmaking. No one stops you from learning anything here; it is up to us to how much we can assimilate. I also did fashion designing and photography which helped me as an AD. I have also been working independently. I also collaborated with another writer and did a few advertisements. I had made a four-minute video to pitch my project; when producer Raj Kandukuri liked the story, things got moving.” Raj said he would fund the project in the first narration.
She has learnt many things from the directors she has worked with. They never give up and persistence is one quality that all of them possess. Being a womani n the industry, she had to go through hardships to get a film but she believed in her ability as a director rather than think of gender.
It is also a matter of pride that at least five women will make their debut as directors in 2020.
Is she well equipped as a writer? Sesha Sindhu states that all assistant directors need not know cinematic grammar and writing techniques. It is a visual medium and they need an idea and clarity to implement it. She adds, “I am not very good with dialogues, I like experimenting with screenplay and its techniques. The concept is mine but I had help from other writers. The story is fresh, a coming-of-age romantic comedy. It is a journey of a boy from 17 to 25 years. There are a few unique characters and my main agenda was to break stereotypes. There is college romance, professional dilemma, conflict with parents, good friendships and some incidents from my life. I wanted this genre to be my first film; I might not pull it off in the future. I am young and the concept is young.”
Choosi Chudangane is about wedding photographer Siddhu and his love story with Sruthi, a music composer. The film has a non-linear screenplay and all the characters are real and relatable. Sesha Sindhu was born in Dubai and grew up watching Hindi movies. She is inspired by Bollywood but the platonic friendship that the lead pair have in Chusi... hasn’t been dealt with in Telugu films. She reveals, “There is a mother who is a bread winner, father is a stay-at-home parent. We normalised the entire concept and situations. The boy has two girls as friends and they hang around at his place. I personally know wedding photographers and the challenges they have to go through during photo shoots.”
Sesha Sindhu’s parents were cool when she announced her decision to join the movie industry. She has three siblings and her elder sister Shanti has done production design for this project. The team has many women, who have been multi-tasking to finish the film on time.
