Writer-director Kishore Tirumala’s rise since Second Hand has been consistent. He deals with core human emotions and makes sure the content is strong keeping the entertainment quotient intact. Nothing is out of place and over the top in his films. Nenu Sailaja has been a huge hit — a film with which he made his mark. His next, Vunnadi Okate Zindagi is eagerly awaited. On repeating Ram after Nenu Sailaja, Kishore says, “Ram is a very good actor and is capable of pulling off all emotions. What more does a director want and hence I continued to work with him. Moreover there was plenty of understanding between me and Ram and there was good team work, the comfort zone helped me to move on quickly to this subject.”
The director observes that there have been many love stories but it has been a long time since an auteur dealt with friendship. He adds, “Even for me to write such a story there would be some freshness and enthusiasm. Once upon a time there would be constant interaction between friends but now our lifestyles have changed and every one works in different schedules, so there is not much time for people to be connected in the same frequency. The bond that childhood friends share is always strong as they grow together and there is more understanding.”
Kishore Tirumala had Sree Vishnu for friend’s role in mind right from the time he conceived it, as the actor had worked with him in Second Hand. Ram and Sree Vishnu apparantly performed as if they were best friends in real life. Ram is said to have taken the initiative to build a rapport with his co-actor to make him comfortable before the film began.
Music plays an important part in Kishore Tirumala’s life. For instance the numbers in Nenu Sailaja which is the title song and the friendship song and What amma..what is this amma or the Rainbow song, have lyrics that are meaningful. Kishore waxes eloquent on music. “In Nenu Sailaja too, the hero is a DJ. Here Ram who plays Abhi, is a music lover. I cannot live without music. Even while writing scenes, I listen to music. During college days while studying too, I had music playing in the background. Since it has been there with me since childhood, I treat it as a character. I give equal importance to it like I do to my scenes and dialogues. You can tell a story in a song. I think about the concept and then discuss with the music director after which he takes over. I take a lot of care for my songs. Since I am from Tirupati, yes you do find some Tamil influence because I would watch lot of Tamil cinema.”
The director says he had seen his work during re-recording and he is mighty happy and satisfied. He still calls it an explicable feeling, about the release he says it is like a mother waiting to see the new born. He adds, “The hangover will be there till Sunday and then I move on to another story. I see even my next story is more relatable and connected to real life. I am never biased to either of the characters. I never cheat myself and make sure I am just etching the characters. Unnadi Okate Zindagi is a positive film and I have been confident about it ever since the idea germinated.”