October 23, 2011 Y. Sunitha Chowdhary
The 35 something Kuntal or Kuntaleswar Rao sounds very endearing when he confesses to have lied to the media and others that his up and coming movie Maa Oorilo Okasari Emi Jarigindante costed him 70 lakhs when he actually wrapped it up in it 20 lakhs. "Otherwise people won't watch it or the media will not cover it; It wa simperative for me to blow up the figure to keep pace with the high budget movies that cost anywhere between 30 to 40 crores," he remarks about the project that is due for release in November.
Kuntal is a M.Sc. gold medalist from the Osmania University and teaches chemistry at Narayana College in Dilsukhnagar. The producer cum actor has made this movie during holidays in 18 days without missing out on his classes and surprised his students and friends. The man from Visakhapatnam believes education doesn't mean reading books alone and the theory classes confined to the classrooms, and wanted to prove that it would be complete by bringing out at least one aspect of his personality in him.
He says, "My first venture was a 30 minute short film on pollution called Ganga which won an award at the Vijayawada Short Film festival this year. I produced and acted in it and my friend Chandu directed it, it cost us 35 thousand. Chandu has an impressive track record, he made O Chinna Prayatnam that won a Nandi. Now he has directed this movie that has me as the producer and actor."
Maa Oorilo Okasari Emi Jarigindante is a two hour movie made with local people from Rajahmundry, Ravulapalem and Amalapuram. The heroine Sirisri is a college student from Hyderabad. The story is based on an incident that took place in a village and it runs till the last keeping the audience guessing if it is a crime or a comedy.
Kuntal avers, "Our films are urban and semi-urban in nature these days but this one has pure Telugu language, culture reflected in it. The songs are very pleasant and the humour is all natural and situational, nothing forced. All the artistes never crossed a single take and the film consumed is just 48 cans. I wanted to actually hold a workshop for the actors but my students needed me."
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