The roads leading to Nizam College grounds sprang to life as hundreds of women from various walks of life — housewives, doctors, engineers and others — joined hands to fight for their rights. Leading them from the front was Bhumika playing Indira, housewife and an MBA topper, in Amod Entertainments' Collector Gari Bharya directed by Tekula Krupakar Reddy. The director has also written the story and penned the screenplay. At the shooting spot, we find nearly 500 junior actors playing the characters assigned to them.
Veteran dance director Shiva Shankar held centrestage as the song cheyi cheyi kalipi kadhalave…magavaanitho sama hakkulu pondhevaraku tuned by Chinna (lyrics by Paidisetty Ram) is played on the nagara. “It is a revolutionary song,” explains Krupakar Reddy. “An M.B.A gold medallist, Bhumika has an unfulfilled dream. Hailing from an agricultural family, she has a vision to guide villagers to a new financial system beneficial to them. But her father wishes otherwise. He decides to marry her off to his friend's son Gautham, an IAS officer (played by Prakash Raj). After marriage, she is reduced to obeying the dictates of her husband. It happens in every family. The girl's father thinks he knows what is best for his daughter and the husband thinks that he is providing every comfort she needs. In most cases, both do not bother to find out what really is in her mind. When the protagonist, after years of submission to male chauvinism, finally raises her voice, hundreds of such deprived women join her,” he explains at length the genesis of the scene being shot.
Earlier, the director had filmed a key scene on Prakash Raj, Tanikella Bharani, Babu Mohan and others at Taramati Baradari. “The venue has been converted into a secretariat housing various departments of power. Prakash Raj is an honest bureaucrat who goes by the rule book. Bharani and Babu Mohan are political consultants who can broker any deal with the powers that be. How politicians can use even a strict officer to their advantage is shown through these characters. It evokes laughter and at the same time makes one think about the present day system,” adds Krupakar Reddy.
Passion towards cinema brought him back to India after successful business ventures in Information technology and hotel industry in the U.S. “Before leaving for U.S.A, I worked as an assistant director with Dasari Narayana Rao for hits such as Bahudoorapu Batasari . As a filmmaker, I am not interested in run of the mill kind of cinema. I want to give do meaningful films besides entertaining the audience, to create awareness. I also want to prove that a low budget film can be completed and marketed successfully if one has a thorough understanding of the medium. Unfortunately, most new entrants lack such knowledge and hence the rut in the industry,” he feels.
Reddy shot his maiden venture produced by V. Vanitha Vani and A. Radhika Reddy in Vizag, Rajahmundry and Hyderabad. “We have songs in the film but when the story is happening here, how can my lead pair suddenly vanish and appear in a foreign land to sing a duet?” he asks with a mischievous grin. “I am trying to showcase reality. One can identify with the characters from my film, be it the protagonists or the politicians and other key players. The bottomline of the theme is — be it men or women, freedom is the same. There should not be any discrimination against women.”
Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Brahmanandam, Dharmavarapu, Venumadhav, Kondavalasa, Vizag Prasad, Malladi Raghava, Sivaparvathy and Delhi Rajeswari are in the cast. Krupakar Reddy is planning to release the audio on April 3 and the film in May.
