Trivikram's Exclusive Interview with TC

For any Telugu cinema viewer, the name of Trivkiram Srinivas is quite very familiar. In fact, he is a star writer. He brought in a sea of change in Telugu film dialogues. As far as I know, he is the only writer who has fan clubs - and this seems a phenomenon in itself, never seen in the past either! Everyone knows that he never really talked in press meets before or after the release of a film. So, it became hard for me to get hold of him for an interview. After I tried so many times and missed so many times too, he finally gave up his usual stand and agreed for an interview. Here are the excerpts from the telephonic conversation with him, exclusive to TeluguCinema.Com:

Sri: Now that you're stably settled as a director, would you write for Vijayabhaskar or other directors in future?
Trivikram: No, it's not possible as I have to take care of my directorial project and I'd not have time for other films. I am the one and only writer for my film, and I also have to look after other departments too, and thus I cannot concentrate on others' projects.

Sri: Why is that you didn't want to write lyrics anymore, after Oka Raju-Oka Rani? The lyrics were all good...
Trivikram: (Laughs) No, I cannot do that! I penned the lyrics only for that film... and I do not have time to concentrate on that now. It's a feat only possible for great lyricists like Veturi gaaru, Sastry gaaru, etc. I may not able to show variations for each song like they do, and if I do take that minimal care, it soon becomes repetitive and the "feel" is lost! I thus better leave it to the vetarans (laughs)!

Sri: Having made a good name as a trendsetting punch dialogue writer, why is that you don't talk a lot in success meets or film functions?
Trivikram: I need to talk about the film and may "spill out the beans" if I talk before the release of the film (and I don't like to do that!), and after the film is released, there's nothing much to talk anyway, as people may have already seen the movie! I thus avoid both (laughs)!

Sri: You seem to work with a standard set of comedy artistes, such as Sunil, Dharmavarapu, Brahmanandam, M.S. Narayana, etc. How come you didn't use other popular comedians like Venumadhav, or Kondavalasa, or L.B. Sriram?
Trivikram: I have not noticed this fact until you said it! I do not have any problem working with anyone. In fact, L.B.Sriram gaaru worked for Chirunavvuto..., and is still a good friend of mine - we share a good rapport. There is no reason for them not being in my movies. It's a case of pure coincidence, that's all!

Sri: Now that you directed a movie with Pawan Kalyan, do you plan to do more movies with other stars? Who do you like to work with?
Trivikram: There is nothing like I do only with stars - I'd like to work with everyone. It all depends on the story and setup and not on the stars!

Sri: Jai Chiranjeeva! didn't have much of your comedy touch, and some of the dialogues were too cinematic indeed - such as the villain depicted as arms supplier to Osama Bin Laden! Where did things go wrong?
Trivikram: There's nothing wrong in connecting Osama or not using the name. The movie failed simply because it did not touched the audience. Every film should connect to the audience somewhere, and only then will the film make them come back repeatedly, which helps a hit run for the film. We missed that in Jai Chiranjeeva!

Sri: Your name as one of the singers went unnoticed in "Computers-u, Arts-u, Science-u..." song in "Nuvve.. Nuvve...". Did you plan to leave it there, or take it ahead? Why didn't you sing further?
Trivikram: I didn't sing further because I saw no future for me there (laughs)! oka saari paaDitE baagaa paaDaaru anTaarEmO... ekkuva sarlu paaDite baadhapaDarU naa gontu vinalEka! (Laughs) ...Actually the chorus singers were rehearsing the song so many times while the main singers waited in the lounge, and by the time the chorus singers were ready, it was past midnight and the main singers left. Thus, Koti gaaru and I sang it without an option as the recording had to be done that day itself. I do not have any intentions to continue the singing though - it was just a happening of chance.

Sri: How is your chemistry with Mahesh Babu? What do you like in his style? What do you think he likes in your work?
Trivikram: He is a director's actor and he can get into the character very easily. What he thinks in my work is a question that you need to ask him and not me (laughs).

Sri: Can we expect a mass-oriented movie from Trivikram?
Trivikram: What's "mass" and what's "class"!? The classic Sankarabharanam was appreciated by everyone! ...There's no such a classification as class and mass. People like a movie or they don't - that's all that matters!

Sri: Most audience know you as a comedy writer even though the movies in your director were not really of that genre. Do you feel happy about it? Would you want to stick to it or lose it, now that you're a director?
Trivikram: Hmm... actually you see comedy everywhere in your daily life! It all depends on how you take it. ...I want to do a complete film and not a comedy film. Of course, there's no one in the world who hates comedy!

Sri: Was the transition to a director preplanned?
Trivikram: Actually, I came to the industry to become a director and not a writer. Intially, I tried to work with Ramgopal Verma and some other such people, but it didn't work out right. And, I became a writer by accident...

Sri: How did the "accident" happen?
Trivikram: After coming from Bheemavaram, [comedian] Sunil and I used to be roommates. Sunil was the person who introduced me to the comedian Gautam Raju, to whose children I used to give private tuitions. He introduced me to T.D.V.Prasad who was making a film and said that I was a good writer and was looking for a break. In order to not let the chance pass, I agreed to it and then he gave me a chance to write the climax scene. I wrote it and showed it to him the next day, but even before they saw what I wrote, they called for an experienced director who came for story sittings. I showed my work to him, he liked it immediately and offered me to work as an assistant with him...

Sri: That brings this question in my mind: As you wanted to be an director why not joined as an assistant director in the first place?
Trivikram: To tell you the truth, I felt that it's not justified to ask for money while assisting someone in directon, because we're learning the work there and why does someone need to pay for our learning process - thus was my thought. I was also embarassed to ask money anyway, and thus it never happened that way.

Sri: So, who did you work with as an assistant?
Trivikram: Posani Krishnamurali gaaru.

Sri: How was it working with him?
Trivikram: It was a really great experience! He taught us a lot and paid a lot too. I was in fact the hightest paid assistant! He never treated us like subordinates and was very good to everyone of us.

Sri: What exactly did you learn from him?
Trivikram: A lot, really! When he agrees a film, he used to stay all by himself in his room while he completed the whole script with the scene and lighting in five to seven days, all alone. We used to enjoy in the hotel room without any work all through this time. Once he completed this process, he used to give that script to us and asked us to suggest changes for improvement. That's how I learned a lot without assisting anyone, as he showed fine work with complete script and details before giving to us. In that way, he helped a lot for my growth.

Sri: Do writers and directors need godfathers in the film industry?
Trivikram: Does that help if you do not have talent? Will the audience accept others based on their godfathers?! Nope... I didn't have any godfathers when I came.

Sri: What did you like in Vijayabhaskar? What did you not like in him?
Trivikram: I liked everything, and there's nothing which I didn't like in him. I learned a lot from him, and yet there's one thing I was never able to learn from him - to wake up early (laughs). Though we worked together for so many films, I never had a chance to go to breakfast with him! That's because he is an early bird and used to wake up. After he was done with everything, he used to wake me up - "Srinivas gaarU, late avutOndi... lEvanDi!" (laughs).

Sri: How did you first meet him?
Trivikram: Swayamvaram producers liked the story and were looking for a new director. Then, Ramprasad (of Chirunavvuto... fame) introduced Vijayabhaskar, as they were good friends. He agreed to direct after the first sitting ...and that moment on, we became good friends!

Sri: Vijayabhaskar hadn't tasted success after you both parted...
Trivikram: That's a wrong statement to infer! He did only one film (Classmates) since. He's a good director and our combination was always a teamwork and not mine alone. I can't point to any particular dialogue and say this was something that I wrote - it was like both of us wrote it! Teamwork was what it was, and not my one-man show ever!

Sri: Your films' themes/scenes/stories were inspired by Hollywood films. Swayamvaram from Post-marriage Blues, Mallishwari from Roman Holiday, dining table scene in Nuvvu Naaku Nacchaav...! (Venkatesh's prayer, Prakash Raj's poetry, etc.) from Meet the Parents, the dog episode in Mallishwari from There's something about Mary... and so on! Why is that?
Trivikram: You grow up watching movies, and so when a situation occurs, your mind automatically gets that scene in your sub-conscious and you do like the scene that you already saw. It takes a great director to bring out his own way of re-creating a scene that one is reminded of - I am talking about the likes of Shyam Benagal, Satyajit Ray, etc. - I hope one day I'll also be a better director than now...!

Sri: One thing is common in some of your movies - an NRI bridegroom becoming a "bakraa"...
Trivikram: That's only in Nuvvu Naaku Nacchaav...!. I have nothing against NRI bridegrooms. The rest of the films didn't have the same thing but did have different situations. ...You might have taken notice because you're an NRI too! (Laughs)

Sri: Tell me more about your days of struggling.
Trivikram: Who wouldn't struggle! There is nothing extraordinary here - I struggled like L.V. Prasad gaaru! They are the ones that need to be talked about. See, even Ramcharan had to struggle though he had everything in him! He has to struggle to come out of his father's image and get a name of his own. Our NRIs struggle too, leaving all the near and dear ones in a country afar. Everyone has their share of struggle and there's nothing great about my struggling!

Sri: Jalsa doesn't have the regular mark of Seetarama Sastry, though one can listen to his style upon repeated hearing of some songs. Still, the title song is not thought to be by Seetarama Sastry. Was it planned to be different?
Trivikram: It was done intentionally, yes! I requested him to do it, and he took six months to complete the songs in Jalsa. Once we finalized the scenes, I went to him and said that these songs need a generous sprinkling of English and Hindi words. I am glad the songs came out very well now.

Sri: How do you think the title of the movie was justified...
Trivikram: What does Jalsa mean to you.

Sri: Jalsa usually refers to fun and "masti"...
Trivikram: Right, and that's what we wanted to show - a complete entertainer and nothing other than that!

Sri: What has the film got to do with naxalisam? The movie would have a smooth story even without that element incorporated into the story! What made you choose it as a backdrop?
Trivikram: Why not naxalism? It's a backdrop like just any other backdrop!

Sri: But being a naxalite, you showed the hero boozing and roaming with girls...
Trivikram: I never showed him like he was roaming with girls. He was in love with a girl, which is a natural phenomenon! And coming to boozing, he's frustrated with the society and was not able to change it, and he took to drinking in that frustration.

Sri: Doesn't it give wrong signals to youth - to take up the boozing in frustration, I mean?
Trivikram: Even ladies drinking wine has become commonplace in the current day! Just because we show drinking on the screen doesn't attrack more people towards it! Some movies are made for entertainment, and we need to take only entertainment from them.

Sri: If you're making a film at this pace, taking more than a year to complete one film, what about the fans who want to see their hero's movie?
Trivikram: (Laughs) What about me! Why not think about me also? Don't you think it affects me too? For Jalsa, we only shot for 130 days on the whole. There were many reasons for its delay. Pawan's family issues, clash with Illeana's and Prakash Raj's dates, etc. delayed the film.

Sri: Don't you go to shooting with the complete script? I am asking this because I heard that Jalsa was actually shot to be a length of four hours and you trimmed to 2hours 50 minutes...
Trivikram: I do go to the shoot with a bound script and that's the reason I take more time to complete the script before the actual shooting starts. I do not have any assistants, and so I need to do all the work - story, screenplay, dialogues - myself, and thus it obviously takes more time for me to start the shooting.

Sri: Coming back to Jalsa, don't you think there were continuity issues like Pawan's hair cut changing in the middle of a fighting sequence, etc.? And the story had nothing to do with naxalisam...
Trivikram: True, that's because it took longer time and Pawan also completed Annavaram in the meantime, and that's why you see that haircut. Story-wise, I do not think there are any issues with continuity... I do not understand one thing - our audience say that they want to change the films, blah blah blah... but if we sincerly try to get a big hero behave normally, we cannot digest! Why is that? If you need the change, why not welcome the change?! Jalsa does not have the same regular format of our films.

Sri: You said that the hero took up boozing due to frustration, but I do not see any scenes that establish the extent of frustration...!
Trivikram: There are a couple of dialogues that establish the reasoning, and you might have missed those. ...Actually, it is pretty hard to walk on a thin rope - on the issue of naxalisam, because I need to write dialogues that can pass through the censors without issues, and at the same time not hurt the naxalaites too (laughs)! It's surely a tough job!

Sri: There are a lot of stories about Prakash Raj running around late. People say that films are getting delayed because of him.
Trivikram: There are a lot of other issues too while making a film! So, why single out a person! It is director's job to co-ordinate and get the job done.

Sri: What next?
Trivikram: With Mahesh Babu... I can tell the details in a couple of weeks.

Sri: Is it going to take another year?
Trivikram: As of now, we are planning to release by December. We have to see how it works out..

Acknowledgements : Nachaki , Navya, Ravi Verma