Vinay Ratnam: I wanted my first feature to be in Telugu, no matter what

At 27, Vinay Ratnam is counting down to the merchandise of his archetypal diagnostic film, Sri Chidambaram Garu. The Telugu film, which hits theatres connected February 6, marks the culmination of years of persistence. “We held a preview successful Visakhapatnam implicit the weekend, and the assemblage effect was heartwarming,” helium says.

Vinay’s diagnostic debut follows a dependable apprenticeship: 25 abbreviated films and a agelong short, Saagu, which travelled wide connected the festival circuit. A self-taught filmmaker, helium relied connected publically disposable resources and books connected screenplay penning to recognize the craft. “I grew up watching Telugu cinema and was determined not to springiness up connected making films. I adjacent discontinued engineering due to the fact that I didn’t privation a fallback option,” helium says.

Saagu proved to beryllium the turning point. The movie made it to the Top 100 Films astatine the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival 2024 and won Best Debut Director and Best Film astatine the Polish International Film Festival. “I retrieve saying past that I hoped Saagu would beryllium my springboard to a feature,” Vinay recalls.

The thought for Sri Chidambaram Garu took signifier 4 years agone and progressive astir a year-and-a-half of writing. Initially conceived arsenic portion of an anthology and pitched to OTT platforms, the communicative was shelved erstwhile anthologies fell retired of favour. “That’s erstwhile I reworked it into a full-length feature,” helium says.

Festival designation helped Vinay transportation the publication to aggregate producers. While the communicative recovered appreciation, galore were hesitant astir its commercialized viability with newcomers successful pb roles. Vinay, however, was firm. Set successful Kollangi hamlet successful Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari territory — a colony without energy oregon mobile connectivity — the movie demanded caller faces to clasp authenticity.

The communicative centres connected a young antheral mocked for his squint, who develops an inferiority analyzable and hides down acheronian glasses. The thought emerged from Vinay’s ain observations. “I’ve seen galore young radical suffer years worrying astir perceived flaws and chasing validation. We request to larn to judge who we are,” helium says.

When Telugu producers remained unconvinced, Vinay concisely explored the anticipation of a Malayalam collaboration. “We were astir set, but I wanted to marque 1 past effort successful Telugu — my parent tongue.” He past turned to crowdfunding, collaborating with societal media influencers successful his hometown of Rajahmundry. “Within a day, we raised implicit ₹1 lakh,” helium recalls.

Those videos caught the attraction of Chinta Vineesh Reddy and Gopala Krishna Reddy, producers of the enigma thriller KA. “Once they came connected board, determination was nary looking back. We returned the crowdfunded amount,” Vinay says.

His puerility person Vamsi Tummala, a acquainted look from his abbreviated films, was formed arsenic the antheral lead. The pistillate lead, Sandhya Vasishta, and the remainder of the formed were chosen from implicit 600 auditions. The method squad includes cinematographer Akshay Ram, euphony composer Chandu Ravi, exertion Anwar Ali and dependable decorator Swapnik Rao. Extensive pre-production and workshops helped the squad implicit the sprout successful conscionable 32 days. “We adjacent recorded sync dependable connected location,” Vinay adds.

The title, helium explains, comes from section slang. “‘Chidambaram’ is often utilized arsenic a tease for those with a squint, a notation to precocious Telugu histrion Kallu Chidambaram. In the film, the protagonist forgets his existent sanction due to the fact that everyone calls him Chidambaram.”

Up next, Vinay plans to displacement gears with an municipality romanticist comedy.