'Sammathame' stars Kiran Abbavaram and Chandini Chowdary in lead roles. It was released in theatres on June 24.
In this interview, director Gopinath Reddy talks about the audience's response while defending his creative choices.
I am a qualified Engineer. After Intermediate, I joined a crash course in filmmaking. During my graduation, I did some short films as well. I hail from a village near Nalgonda. My father didn't want me to enter the film industry, as we don't have a film background. Eventually, everything fell in place.
I am very happy with the audience's response to 'Sammathame'. In terms of commerce, our film has recovered its investment.
The audience never analyzes a movie too much. He either gets engaged by the content or not. I prefer linear narration because that helps the audience emotionally connect with the characters.
There is a reason I have shown the male protagonist smoking in the film. He is imperfect. But he wants his future wife to be perfect. The dialogues are brief because I felt business would be more effective. The scenes are not stretched anywhere. In films, it is either about revenge or some other routine element. I wanted to make a movie that feels unusual and breezy. 'Sammathame', thus, touches upon compatibility issues between a future married couple. Both youngsters, as well as elders, are liking our movie.
Kiran is more like an elder brother than a friend. I had to begin this project after his first movie. But since I was not ready with the script of 'Sammathame', he went on to do 'SR Kalyanamandapam'. Fortunately, that film became a hit. Kiran is a writer himself. But our perspectives do diverge a lot of times. We respect each other despite our differences.
I made no changes to the script of 'Sammathame' after 'SRK' became a hit. Kiran's image went up after that movie. I was tempted to mount a big song on him after that movie became a hit. But the song was edited from the final copy because it was looking out of place.
The budget of 'Sammathame' did go over and above our initial estimates.
I have got a couple of subjects ready. I have also written a female-centric subject. Depending on how it goes, I will firm up a project soon. I like to work on relatable, credible subjects that can be watched by the whole family.
