It’s a film that steers away from formula-driven tropes of Telugu cinema to narrate the story of rural innovator Chintakindi Mallesham, who received the Padma Shri in 2017. Releasing on June 21, Mallesham is directed by Raj Rachakonda and stars Priyadarshi Pulikonda in the title role, Jhansi as the mother Lakshmi, and newcomer Ananya as the wife. Mallesham has dialogues by writer Peddinti Ashok Kumar.

Mallesham’s invention, the ‘asu’ machine that he named after his mother, is nothing short of ground breaking. Traditionally, women are the backbone of the asu yarn-winding process. Women have to stretch her arms continuously and wind the yarn around two sets of pegs, placed on either end of a four-foot structure. This is a crucial pre-weaving step. The continuous movement leaves women with painful shoulders and elbows, over the years. Mallesham watched his mother struggle and was determined to build a machine that would mechanise this winding process. There were financial struggles and he went through trial and error, before succeeding in his mission. The Asu machine was patented in 1998.

Adapting this story into a feature film called for unconventional collaborators — people familiar with the ethos of the weaving community in Pochampally. One among them is artist Laxman Aelay.

Weaving the light

At his studio in Somajiguda, Hyderabad, Laxman has nearly 50 drawings and paintings done as an offshoot of his production design for the film. These will be on view at State Gallery of Art from June 19 to 23. The art works as part of ‘Weaving the Light’ exhibition will present vignettes of life in Pochampally.

Mallesham marks Laxman’s re-entry into Telugu cinema after nearly two decades. He had worked as an art designer for Ram Gopal Varma’s earlier films, including Money Money (Telugu; 1995) and Satya (Hindi; 1998). His tryst with cinema includes Nirantharam (Telugu; 1995) that focused on the 1948 Telangana movement.

Laxman Aelay (right) with Sharadaakaandru folk artists on the sets of the film  

Later, he focussed more on fine arts and cinema was relegated to the background until Mallesham. “The director, Raj Rachakonda, came across a TED talk by Chintakindi Mallesham and was awed by this story of this school dropout who engineered the Asu machine. Raj reached out to me saying he wants to make a biopic on Mallesham and asked if I could do the production design. I wasn’t sure, since I had other commitments. However, I asked him to send me the script,” recalls Laxman.

Reading the script, Laxman got nostalgic. He had grown up in Pochampally and had watched his father weave. Laxman was the first in his family to move towards fine arts. “While reading, I could visualise the scenes,” he states.

Laxman, along with the unit members of Mallesham, stayed in a few houses in the vicinity of the shooting spots (Pochampally, Revanpalli, Shivareddy Gudam, Bhongir and Aler) and lived among the locals.

Rustic flavour

Laxman talks about the intrinsic food habits, with a heightened affinity for non-vegetarian specials such as chinta chiguru boti kura. The native art forms and festivals — the Oggu Katha, Peerla Panduga, Yakshaganam and Shaaradakaandru — all find a place in the film and are performed by folk artists. “We designed costumes and artefacts that are in sync with the region. Most urban dwellers may not be familiar with folk forms like the Shaaradakaandru where women narrate musical stories in the event of death in a family,” says the artist. Markandeya Puranam, which is narrated using scrolls, also finds a mention in the film.

An artwork by Laxman Aelay for the film  

Laxman recalls Shyam Benegal’s film Susman (1987; Hindi), starring Om Puri and Shabana Azmi, which was also shot in Pochampally. “We haven’t had a contemporary film from this region,” he says.

The artist is an avid collector of antiques and some of them came in handy for the production design. The biopic is set in the 80s and 90s; the looms and charkhas back then were made of wooden frames as opposed to the newer ones that use metal. Laxman used wooden frames from his collection as well as those sourced from other families for the film. The story traces the different stages of designing the Asu machine. “Mallesham helped us with the prototypes,” says Laxman.

The artist also got to do a cameo as Mallesham’s uncle. He says with a laugh, “It was done out of necessity. The unit was roping in people from the region for small parts and asked me to do the uncle’s role.”

Next, Laxman is working on the production design of director Venu Udugula’s Virata Parvam starring Rana Daggubati and Sai Pallavi. This film, again, is set in rural Telangana of the 1990s.

THE ROAD AHEAD

It’s been 20 years since Chintakindi Mallesham patented his Asu machine. He looks back with pride but is also aware of the challenges ahead. “Around 1400 machines have been sold so far. Each machine costs ₹25000 and not many weavers can afford it. Even today, many women in Pochampally are struggling to wind the yarn in the manual method,” he points out.

When director Raj approached him two years ago for the biopic, he was both elated and concerned. Pogula Ganesham of Palle Srujana organisation, who has been a strong support to Mallesham, stepped for the discussions. “We were concerned how the story will be depicted; we also didn’t want anyone in Mallesham’s family to be portrayed in a negative manner. Raj came across as someone passionate about the subject,” says Ganesham.

Chinthakindi Mallesham   | Photo Credit: K V S Giri

Mallesham watched the first test screening of the film last week and was left teary-eyed. “I was moved watching the scene where the Asu machine’s test becomes successful. It’s an unforgettable moment in my life,” he says. He’s all praise for Raj and Priyadarshi. He discloses that while the film stays true to the real story, a few scenes have been dramatised for cinematic effect.

While Mallesham is a hat tip to the innovator, Ganesham says the post-innovation stories are equally fascinating. “Five years ago, we conducted a study to find out if the machine has benefited weavers. We discovered many success stories concerning women. Yet, there are several weaver families that are unable to afford the Asu machine,” he says.

Corporate and private donors have come forward time and again to donate machines to the weavers. Mallesham and Ganesham are thankful, but also assert that the weavers have to pay 25% charges. “When something is given away free, not everyone realises its value. Like all freebies, there’s a danger that the machine will lie unused. We don’t want that to happen,” they reason.

Governmental support to subsidise the machines hasn’t yet come through. Mallesham is hopeful that things will look up. “At least through this film, I hope more people know about the machine and more importantly, the different stages of weaving an ikat fabric,” he signs off.