Hasith Goli discusses the making of Telugu crime comedy ‘Raja Raja Chora’, his shift from a company profession to filmmaking, and his love for drama
Debut writer-director Hasith Goli is successful appreciation for the Telugu crime comedy-drama Raja Raja Chora, which launched on August 19. The movie starring Sree Vishnu, Sunaina and Megha Akash narrates the story of a small-time thief whose life takes an sudden flip when he tries to drag off a theft whereas carrying a crown that supposedly modifications fortunes. The story follows the protagonist, his household and others who cross his path, exploring elements of survival within the metropolis, crime, punishment and redemption.
“We were confident that people would like our film, but the response has turned out to be overwhelming,” says Hasith. For the 29-year-old, this heat reception is an affirmation of his resolution to shift from a company profession to filmmaking 4 years in the past.
Shifting gears
A graduate in pharmaceutical engineering from BITS Pilani, Hasith labored with three organisations dealing with various portfolios earlier than his childhood pal Vivek Athreya requested if he needed to hitch him to make quick and have movies: “I gave it a thought. In the years to come, my career would give me financial stability but it wouldn’t satisfy my creative urge. I was 25 and it seemed like the right time to take the plunge,” he reminisces.
Working with Vivek Athreya for the function movies Mental Madhilo (2017) and Brochevarevarura (2019) helped Hasith study storytelling and filmmaking. When Brochevarevarura was in its post-production stage, Hasith determined it was time to make his personal movie.
Comedy with shades of gray
Sree Vishnu and Megha Akash in ‘Raja Raja Chora’
He had befriended actor Sree Vishnu throughout these two movies and appreciated his comedian timing. He was eager to faucet this aspect of Vishnu by a light-hearted story: “I also like characters with shades of grey, because there is so much more pulp to beat out of it. I thought a story of a thief would fit the bill. I began writing the story of a thief, his lifestyle, his intentions and it all fell into place.”
In about three months, the script was prepared. Hasith narrated it to Vivek Athreya and his group and the suggestions boosted his confidence. “Vivek’s feedback and suggestions were like ani muthyalu (pearls of wisdom), and helped in fine tuning the script.”
Hasith knew he had an attention-grabbing story to relate with peculiar characters that cross paths and lead to mayhem. The pre-production work concerned intensive discussions with cinematographer Vedaraman Shankar and music composer Vivek Sagar, together with others within the path and manufacturing group.
The essential pre-intermission portion main as much as Sree Vishnu making an attempt to make away with a giant loot dressed as a king, was the results of a number of discussions and “polishing the script” as Hasith phrases it.
Visual and musical narrations
Vedaraman and Hasith selected heat color tones for the country center class setting of the story, whereas Vivek Sagar took it as a problem to herald parts of Indian classical, modern western beats and road music: “Vivek’s compositions for [the independent film] Sheesh Mahal is among my favourites and the song ‘Babarag’ stands out as a quirky bhajan. I wanted a song on similar lines to run parallel to the happenings in the pre-interval segment. Vivek composed a fun thillana kind of a song. We opted for contemporary beats for the romance between Vishnu and Megha and folksy street music, which Vivek is so good at, for the portions involving Gangavva and Sunaina.”
Let there be drama
The characters within the story appear to brim with close-to-reality traits. Hasith says it might have been a mirrored image of his unconscious observations. The adultery side involving William Reddy (Ravi Babu) was woven in from reminiscences of listening to comparable incidents in recognized circles: “Such situations guarantee a lot of drama and I love that genre,” says Hasith.
When we speak in regards to the ‘pravachana’ (discourse) parts that includes Tanikella Bharani that assist bind the story with mythological references, Hasith discloses that originally, he needed to make use of it as a instrument for the pre-interval section, however it additionally got here in useful for the climactic parts: “People listen when a ‘pravachana kartha’ (the one who delivers the discourse) interprets a story. We wanted this holistic approach to the story.”
As for the crown that performs a vital half within the movie, Hasith says the crown generally is a mark of energy, greed and subsequent downfall: “That [trajectory] happens with two characters that wear the crown in this story.”
Hasith has written a few scripts and is keen to start his subsequent movie. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, Ok Vishwanath, Bapu, Guru Dutt and Mani Ratnam are a few of his favorite filmmakers.
He is glad that he has been capable of make his household proud by his first movie. His curiosity in literature and writing, he says, stems from his father Hanumanta Sastry Goli: “My father is an avid writer (golisastry.blogspot.com) and I am happy that he liked the film, especially the emotional segments.”
