BE ON THE BALL: Prime Perspectives on Producing, Acting and Directing”: Webinar on ‘Digital Production, Web Entertainment Business and New Mediums

Speaker Bios: 

Ms. Radhika Lavu is an established film producer with over 12 years of experience in the field. She promotes a production house under the banner ‘Ellanar Films’. Her recent accomplishment is Gods of Dharmapuri (GOD), a Telugu web series streaming on Zee5 digital platform, which she produced.

Mr. Satyadev Kancharana, popular as Satya Dev, is known for his performances in ‘Jyothi Lakshmi’, ‘Kshanam’, ‘Mana Oori Ramayanam’, ‘Bluff Master’, ‘Brochevarevarura’ ‘The Ghazi Attack’ and ‘Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya’. He started his career with short films. His first appearance in a feature film was ‘Mr.Perfect’(2011). His first film in a lead role was ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ in 2014. He has also worked in Web-series ‘GOD - Gods of Dharmapuri’ in 2019 and ‘Locked’ in 2020 which is streaming on ‘Aha’. His recent project is ‘Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya.

Mr. Anish Yohan Kuruvilla is a director and actor known for his work in the movies ‘Dollar Dreams’, Nandi Awarded film ‘Anand’, ‘Pelli Choopulu’, and many more. He got nominated for the Best Supporting Actorfor his role in the movie “Anand”. He has worked with Sekhar Kammula, Nagesh Kukunoor, and Manishankar. He has also written and directed web-series ‘GOD - Gods of Dharmapuri’(2019) which was Most Viewed Regional Series in November 2019 at the High-Five with ZEE5 awards ceremony.

G.O.D is an origin story (10 episodes) of a gangster and his family’s power politics, spanning a 16-year period in the 1960s and 70s.

The 70 minute session dealt with nuances related to multi-layered scripting, meticulous detailing involved in series’ production design, rooted storytelling, in addition to powerhouse performances from its select cast.

Ms. Radhika’s moderation and facilitation steered towards and touched upon technical aspects related to episodic storytelling and episodic writing formats, making character sketches, preparation of pitch bible, penning layered and multi-layered stories and collaborative/inclusive nature of film making process and creative projects. Following are the edited and selected excerpts from the same:

When question about the backstory of green lighting the project, Ms. Radhika mentioned that is it an underdog, crime thriller genre, which is handled in a fresh, layered and compelling format, majorly inspired from ‘God Father’ series. She always wanted to narrate the unconventional story in a less-explored backdrop and milieu. Migrant family venturing into a mining town as a setting are less explored in vernacular language space. Accordingly, the team zeroed in on Anegundi and its precincts near Hampi, Bellary, in Karnataka, apart from pockets in Hyderabad like the gullies in Abids, Basheerbagh and Fateh Maidan Club.

Ms. Radhika debunked the popular myth that ‘producers are mere money bags and just do financial stock taking and budgetary reckoning’. As a creative producer, her job is more about harnessing and leveraging the inherent passion, creativity and spirit amongst the collaborative Heads of Department (HoDs) in the project, aimed at a singular and similar creative vision. Democratic freedom and collaborative communication are here producing mantras, wherein she leads the project with an ‘agree to disagree’ mindset

Recounting the sea change of differences that entertainment business saw in Indian context, and the fact that she studied film making 15 years ago at Goldsmiths, University of London (that is situated in a culturally vibrant city/hub, London), she vouched for the value of film school education. Structured film education proffers an eclectic mix of technical basics, aesthetic values and project/process etiquettes in course of the years spent inside the college and eventually the real litmus test is after passing out from the school, wherein one charts one’s own path.

Passion, Perseverance, Patience and Discipline are the four things to look out for production interns/production executives that equally true and relevant for all film making departments        

Replying to the question about ‘difference between directing a film and a web series’, Mr. Anish Kuruvilla said that the digital space provides enough and ample scope (in terms of depth and breadth) to develop the atmosphere, plots and characters. In newer web entertainment, each episode is an entity with a beginning, middle and an end that should ideally make viewers ‘want to watch’ the next episode. Also just like films that do not necessarily get shot in a sequential and linear fashion, doing principal photography for web series is equally challenging. A robust pre-production and development process (much before the actual commencement of shoot) will increase the cost effectiveness and timely/faster completion. He recounted that for GOD series, they had a structured workshop for actors and crew, three months before the actual shoot.

Mr. Anish also mentioned that the digital medium is opening doors for many and allowing writers to push the envelope and India has still many unexplored stories, under-explored formats, yet to be developed themes. On this medium, specifically in vernacular markets like Telugu, there is an innate demand for fresh, seminal and creative ideas and talent who would want to take innovative approach towards the craft of storytelling.

Production is its own beast, and it’s worth considering having your own robust research and rock solid pre-production process/base for eventual synchronicity with all team members in the production phase. Reminiscing about the research that his team undertook, he shared insights/anecdotes about using archival photographs of the location/setting for augmenting the authenticity and exact representation of mining community. Likewise, doing intensive acting workshops helped the actors eventually. 

Discussing about the rootedness of the series, Mr. Anish quipped that the locations are characters unto themselves. During writing, one tends to focus on the characters, dialogue, and plot. While those are all incredibly important to nail, one could be neglecting the locations. Locations are not just where the story happens, but they can become a character (unto themselves), for they embody the themes and motifs of the story.

To a specific question about ‘how acting as a process changes across various mediums?’ Mr. Satyadev mentioned that when the camera rolls, they are all the same for an actor. However, how your work is taken to the audiences (reception) varies from one medium to another for the mode, style of work, as well as the reach of all the mediums are wholly different. For an actor, you have to play your part as an actor at the end of the day, regardless of the medium, making it medium agnostic. As an actor, it does not bother him, whether his work is reaching through cinema, TV or a web series. An actor’s preparation and personal conviction is completely ‘medium-agnostic’ and need to be left like that. Talking about his acting choices and eventual artistic decisions, he says he looks for important ‘hooks’ in a character/role’s personality.

Speaking about the limitless opportunities in new media space, he says that web threw up a lot of challenges for actors, just like platforms like IPL did for cricketers. He opined that the feedback for actors in the digital medium is faster, detailed and complete.

The trio offered a combined advice (for the current and prospective students) that include, penning ambitious, ultra realistic and original stories, producing experimental and brave projects, and while doing so, to aim for perfection.

Notes: Views are personal