Sai Madhav Borra : Touching the soul of the story

Sai Madhav Burra is ecstatic, he is talking of a larger picture – the success of Mahanati will propel producers to put in money on subjects that haven’t been touched before. We will see lot more young directors with fresh and challenging ideas and writers like him stretching their imagination further without commercial limitations. Madhav has lot more projects — Sakshyam, Sye Raa, NTR bio-pic and will be signing a few more soon; meanwhile he spills the beans that his maiden story will be made into a film soon. He will not direct it as he was never inclined towards direction and will continue to add good stories to his repertoire.

The writer made a tiny appearance as playwright Pingali Nagendra Rao in the movie who had worked for Missamma, Maya Bazar, Patala Bhairavi, Gundamma Katha etc. He seems to have enjoyed his job thoroughly, “I knew for sure the film will be a hit but I didn’t expect the response to be so overwhelming. Audience is always right, the industry had misunderstood them by making only a certain type of films. Now I see a change happening in the industry not the audience.”

Last year Sai Madhav had phenomenal success with Gautami Putra Satakarni and Khaidi No 150 released on the same day and both were big hits. The writer is known for dishing out variety, he never sticks to one genre or limits himself to big budget projects alone. If he takes a fascination for a small and a simple story he is willing to do it without remuneration. He says, “It is a misconception that I am a go-to-person for only big films. I have even worked in Rajugari Gadhi and Dongaata because I liked the story. I have the proficiency in language and skill, understanding of characters from theatre. I am from Tenali and was a stage artiste, wrote many dramas. These dramas shaped my thinking and personality when I entered the film industry. I would read a lot of books written by Chalam, Bucchi Babu and Gopichand. I would watch films made from 1930 onwards. One learns a lot, values too from observation, in my case apart from this, my mother and grandmother were of great influence.”

He talks of the balance he brought in to the dialogues in Mahanati and tells us his favourite line though there were many to pick from. “Every story has a soul and we need to make sure that we don’t hurt and see the language isn’t harsh. You notice Savitri’s peddanana getting angry with Gemini Ganeshan but there is a variation in the language. The mindset of the characters that time was different from what it is now. Nag Ashwin said he wanted emotions and shouldn’t sound like dialogues. When the husband questions Savitri as to why she has a problem now when she married him well aware of his weaknesses, Savitri replies, appudu Savitri ni yippudu Savitri Ganeshan ni. I liked it when Vijay Deverkonda and Samantha visit Naresh, who is a Savitri fan and he tells her to address Savitri as Savitri garu. There is one stage where you see her craving to learn Tamil. Ganesh tells her, pustakalu chadavataniki basha ravali, basha ravataniki pustakalu chadavakoodadhu. brathikithe telusthundi, brathikithe vostundi and takes her to the hospital and leaves her to learn the language on her own.”

Being a dialogue writer in the film industry and having worked in a bio-pic that revolved around the film industry, Madhav speaks about the changes he observed.

“Samantha and Vijay Deverkonda’s part is fiction and rest is real. The two drops of tears that were needed without glycerine is not a made up story. It is real, no wonder she is called ‘Mahanti’. These days actors aren’t like Savitri, they are planning their money investments. Otherwise nothing much has changed. As a dialogue writer I have to understand the mental state of the character otherwise I can’t do good work, I can’t even write.”