Title Pics

Disclaimer: This is an example of the minor correction which needs to be done. It should be 'persons', instead of 'person' in the second line.

Movie Title - Renewed One
Great work by the animators - Pavan and Praveen of RBG Kreations, Hyd.

Kudos to Deepika Achalla for the titles sketches - they brought life and symbolism to the titles!!!

Instead of plain end-titles, we have snapshots of movie displayed along with a very beautiful song at the end of the movie.

If you observe closely, the characters are in grayscale and the rest of the pic is in color, and the entire pic is shaded to get a new texture - this was the idea of the animators. Cool work na...

And a few frames after this pic, is where the movie ends.

Getting the Right Dialogues

For a movie which runs majorly on dialogues, prompting the actors for the right dialogues is a difficult task.

Chandini and Valli were the dialogue assistants for the major part of the film. Karteek, Naveen, Pradeep, Swagath and I worked as DAs for the other part.

Apart from prompting the actors for the dialogues, the DAs have worked really hard to make the actors get the right tone and the right feel. Well, most of you have seen these people working with us. For a quick remembrance, I have uploaded a few making pics involving the DAs.

2 DAs for two actors in the scene.

The DAs worked hard to give good practice to the actors.

A beautiful pic

Pics like these surprise me if ours is a first-time film

Working on a chilling night. Special kudos to Chandini. She used to write down the taking notes along with duties of the DA role. She worked with great dedication.

Behind the scene, literally: DA Chandini behind the camera helping with the actors' dialogues.

DA Naveen behind the camera

The actors missed the dialogues many times. The DAs were very particular making the actors deliver the right dialogues, with the right feel and at the right time.

Swagath as DA.

This is my favourite making pic of SF. Kiran/Pradeep - whoever took this pic - thanks a ton! This one pic will bowl many people while we publicize our film. A perfect backdrop, most suitable lighting for the scene, right costume, right camerawork, right DA work, very right action for the scene and just the right direction - this is awesome teamwork for an awesome first-film.

Note: I could not find pics were Naveen, Karteek, Pradeep, Kiran and Sashi worked as DAs. The team might have been very busy and they could not capture the DAs then.

Great Performances

When I was writing this scene, I thought Sravanth is the best fit for Akash's role. Noy you know why. Many people who saw the film, while it is in progress, said that Sravanth has sharp and focussed eyes - a quality of a very determined person (Akash).

Acting in a role which is completely opposite to their real character is a very tough task. Sravanth has performed just the way I wanted.

Imagine you having the best talent and ideas but not good health - a situation where you will not be able to do anything. Imagining such a situation itself is a difficult task. But Sravanth has made it possible with his self-learnt acting talents.

Prashant's role is complex. He has to be soft and he holds many secrets. He is in his last stages and he wants to meet his old friend. Movie is in that stage of his life. The expressions may not be great, but they are apt. We may think that he is acting dull, but as the movie progresses, you come to know Deepak well, and realize that his acting fits the role. Deepak is more in the story than on the screen. Prashant has done a very decent job expressing all the subtle emotions really soft.

Deepak holds many secrets. Acting in two contrast roles and maintaining balance between them is quite tough.

At the end of ones life, obviously, any man turns philosophical. Prashant, like Sravanth, played a role which is completely opposite to his real life.

I have never seen a picture like this in any first-time film. Prashant is completely involved in the character. Full marks to him!

The various shades of Pradeep in the movie - happy & welcoming. Apart from working as an Asst. Director and taking care of Public Relations during production, Swagath performed impressively in the role of Pradeep.

The various shades of Pradeep in the movie - stubborn and explaining

The various shades of Pradeep in the movie - confused and caring. Special Friend has three main characters - Akash, Deepak and Pradeep. I need to explain why I added Pradeep in the list of main characters.

Swagath has the best thing he could to the director. As per the script, Pradeep should be bold and consoling Akash. But given the gravity of the situation in the scene, he was way too involved in it that he cried uncontrollably. I agreed for the change in the script and made a few modifications to the takes. Swagath, you are going to be a very good actor. That's for sure.

Deepak always has soft emotions, which are hard to understand. But there will be a lot to explore. Pratap found it really tough to get those expressions.

I love Deepak's role. It is so very ideal and a very sweet person- he cares for his friend very much; makes his dear friend feel happy in his life and only then he feels happy about his life.

I found the best of friendship between Akash and Deepak in this scene.

This is one of my favourite scenes [ Not because I acted in it :) ]. I was literally stunned at the way Rajesh was acting on par with me. He was so into Akash's role that till the day of church scene shoot, I thought he really lost somebody important in his family - but he was just acting is what he told me that night.

Many people asked me if he is a real doctor. Chanchal was the best fit for the role. His accent and emotions were just like a compassionate eye-doctor. For this scene, in particular, he completed the shoot in half the scheduled time.

Having said all of the above things, the other actors in the film who made guest appearances have done a good job. They may laugh looking at their acting on screen, but they have to feel proud that they have done something which their friends were not able to do - seeing themselves on screen. They can tell somebody that I am a part of a very unique thing - an independent digital feature film made by the youth of Visakhapatnam.