Creating an impression in Tollywood has never been easy, but a chance encounter with some big names such as C. Ashwini Dutt and Tammareddy Bharadwaja has given this budding film-maker hailing from Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district just the kind of break he needs to carve a niche for himself.
This talented youngster was looking for good opportunities after passing out of a cinematography course at the prestigious L.V. Prasad Film Institute in Trivandrum in 2015.
Luck finally smiled on him in the form of an offer to work as an assistant to director Nag Ashwin in the making of ‘Mahanati’, the historic biopic on prominent south Indian actress Savitri.
He is Vipparthi Vishnu Kumar, whose passion for film-making began at a very young age and soon prompted him to first showcase his unrecognised directorial skills to the world through short films.
One of his works on the Godavari Maha Pushkaralu won critical acclaim from Mr. Ashwini Dutt and his daughter Swapna, whose ‘Swapna Cinema’ was his initial platform. That was when he was picked up by Nag Ashwin for the ‘Mahanati’ movie.
Thought-provoking
Mr. Kumar went on to take a short film titled ‘Birds’, which is a thought-provoking one on the menace of child abuse and society’s responsibility to curb it.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kumar said he made quite a few short films with shoestring budgets, but the quality of the output was to be watched out.
He felt happy to have met veteran director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, and actors Allu Arjun, Keerthi Suresh, Samantha and Kollywood star Suresh Gopi during his students days in Trivandrum.
He is planning to do more films while scouting for better opportunities in the big league.