Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try and Maruti Dasari set his goal. From concept to treatment and promotion - all were executed as per plan and it is heart warming to see a digital film made with Canon5D, with a budget of 60 lakh drawing houseful collections at the box office .
“In the past 16 years of my career I have never seen a small budget film get a table profit of Rs. 22 lakhs and the distributors laughing their way to the bank. The film is made with absolute newcomers and it doesn't boast of a Brahmanandam or an item song. Ee Rojullo will encourage many more filmmakers to try out this pattern of film making,” says Prasanna Kumar, Secretary of Producers Council.
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Maruti appears calm and happy. He is just back from Tirupati after a thanksgiving and has signed a film with Nitin.
The man from Machilipatnam began his career as a number plate and sign board artist, completed his studies with his hard earned money and came to Hyderabad to work in an animation company.
Though he never worked as an assistant director, he was always inclined to direct a film.
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He says, “After seeing RGV's Dongala Muta, I narrated a few stories but people showed no interest. I then bought a 5D and started off on my own with Rs. 50 lakhs but went over board by 10 lakhs, but I was sure on spending on publicity as this was a small film. I do have a grip and an understanding on the subject as I directed ad films for Praja Rajyam Party.”
He adds,
“I was a distributor and a co-producer for A Film By Aravind. I lost money due to over budget but the film became a hit. The experience taught me many things and for my film I adopted the guerilla style. I would eat on the roads while filming and was careful about spending money.
A girl, my neighbour was being troubled by a boy. I put her experience onto the screen plus the way both sexes feel about each other. A few distributors saw the film and exclaimed Yenti cinema yila undi? I convinced them that this is what the youth want and added some bold dialogues. I promoted the film through the trailers and sold the film by the audio launch.”
Content is the real hero
Maruti avers that most directors are compromising on the content when heroes are creating problems.
They are rooting for the heroes even if their films are utter disasters.
“Never kill the content, concentrate on the screenplay and hold the budget. The actors did a good job and I was able to engage the audience for two hours. I always believe that we should make a film with the budget that a film gets for the satellite rights. My goal is to create a brand for myself and that people should stock DVDs of my stories.”