V edam closes with a shot of the elderly man walking with the child. The end credits roll and the audience gives a standing ovation. The man at thehelm, Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi, is ecstatic. Since Friday, he has been flooded with congratulatory calls. The critical and commercial success has proved that his Gamyam was no flash in the pan.
“There are more than 80 bouquets at home,” grins the director. Krish prefers to do the talking at a bookstore. We find him lost among volumes of non-fiction. And once we get talking, we find that the choice to meet at a bookstore isn't pretentious.
Ideas, for Krish, stem from his keen observation of people and from books. Five different characters, hailing from five different backgrounds with five different stories come together like a mosaic in Vedam.
Krish states he never intended to make Vedam a multistarrer with stars like Allu Arjun, Manchu Manoj, Anushka and Manoj Bajpai. “It was intended to be a small film. I was haunted with a visual of an old man walking with a child. I began writing the story. I wrote five different stories with five characters, representing five different elements of nature, coming from different regions and dialects. I wanted to cast newcomers. That's when I got a call from Allu Arjun who expressed his wish to work with me. I met him, but told him that I am working on a script for newcomers. Two months later, he contacted me again and wanted to hear the script. Fifteen minutes into the narration, he said he wanted to do the role of Cable Raju.”
Krish didn't want to cast Allu Arjun alongside newcomers. “Then Bunny himself roped in Manoj. Vedam is what it is today because of the script and Bunny,” says Krish. The director credits Venkatesh Chakravarthy of Ramanaidu Film School for helping him fine tune the script. “Perhaps for the first time a script consultant has been engaged for a Telugu film,” he says.
The film, receiving rave reviews in A and B centres, is an example to show the younger crop of stars willing to push the envelope, given the right script. Agrees Krish, “Initially, no one believed me when I said Bunny is keen to do the role of Cable Raju role. Cable Raju is much more entertaining than Gaali Seenu of Gamyam . Likewise, I was hesitant to approach Anushka. She was game to do the role of the prostitute, Saroja.”
Krish is glad to have proven that he is no one film wonder. But he declares he's not here to merely make money. In fact, he worked on a film, titled Krishnam Vande Jagatguru , with Venkatesh but stopped it midway since he wasn't convinced with the script. “Somewhere I felt I lost the honesty for the script,” he says. All he wants is to be a good storyteller.
