HYDERABAD: City-based short filmmaker Venga Jayashankarr, though only three films old has already tasted success. His three short films – Half Girl Friend, The God Must be Crazy, Love You Forever received close to seven lakh views on YouTube, and the filmmaker is currently working on his fourth venture, Happy Ending.
With a team of four members including a music director, cinematographer, the cast and director himself, Jayashankarr started making short films that revolve around human emotions that he tries to portray in a humourous fashion.
The 26-year-old, who is a BTech graduate from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, left engineering to pursue his passion. Ask him why and he quickly responds, “ I have always been curious in learning about human emotions as they vary from person to person. The whole subject related to human psychology interests me and that is what drove me to pen the first screenplay script” he shares. There has been a growing number of independent short filmmakers in the recent past despite challenges in the field, especially lack of financial assistance.
But for Jayashankarr this was never a problem.
Jayashankarr says, “I am very thankful to my producers Chandrakala Sriramula, Pruphvi Dhaggu and Kavel. D. Jain. They helped me through the process. I also had the opportunity to work with Runway Reel,” he adds.
He also shares that his inspiration comes from yesteryear director Adurthi Subbba Rao and renowned writer Muppalla Ranganayakamma . “I can watch their films over and over again and never get bored,” he says. Though his movies have been received well by audience, Jayashankarr is bothered by the fact that the only place short films get any visibility is film festivals that have limited audience. “On an average, a short film costs up to `60,000.
There is no avenue for us to get our money back,” he rues and adds, “Getting permission to shoot is also very difficult. We have faced situations where the police assumed we were shooting a commercial film and questioned if we had legal permission to shoot. Also, finding the right people for your characters, especially women is difficult.” However, he likes to stay put in the business because he is passionate about it. Currently working on his fourth film Happy Ending, Jayashankarr is happy with way the film is shaping up. “It is a break from my usual films and explores the genre of romantic comedy,” he beams.
He also believes that, “Hard work and persistence is what is required in filmmaking that is backed by a good story.”