100 films, 100 lessons

by Pranita Jonnalagedda 15:56 0 comments Special Stories

In times when social media is proving to be a stimulant for aspiring filmmakers, filmmaker duo Subash Chandra and Dheeraj Raju are the perfect example of how the platform can be leveraged as a tool to showcase one’s talent on an experimental basis. In conversation with Atinarp, they talk about their journey and how they want to now make a feature film

Meet Subash Chandra, 25 and Dheeraj Raju, 25, two friends whose passion for cinema has been such that in a span of six and a half years, the duo has helmed 100 short films spanning across various genres and are now gearing up to make their feature film debut.

Subash Chandra and Dheeraj Raju

For those who have a keen interest in following short films, their banner MR Productions must be a familiar name. Interestingly, the name is an acronym formed by merging the first letters of both their engineering colleges – MVGR College of Engineering and Raghu Engineering College. “We were encouraged a great deal by our college management as well as seniors and juniors. We decided this would be our ode to them,” share the duo who has been friends since they were studying Intermediate and are residents of Visakhapatnam.

“The first short film we ever made was in 2008 when we decided to enroll in a competition. Our film was appreciated and that gave us a boost to pursue it,” says Subash as Dheeraj adds, “From then on, we continued participating in several contests and all the films were funded by our family members.”

And with most of their entries winning some kind of recognition, they decided to make short films more often. However, it was not until 2012 that after pursuing other interests, they decided films is what they want to do for the rest of their lives. “We moved to Hyderabad because this is the heartland of films and decided to put in more serious efforts,” avers Subash.

The USP of MR Productions is their ability to make “an effective film which is a quality product and is yet made at a very low budget”. “In fact, the first few films we made were on a zero budget. We took easy locations, had mostly our friends – classmates, juniors and seniors from college – and family members starring in our films. Even now, we have grown so much as a team that 90 per cent of our crew is mostly our college mates,” Dheeraj reveals.

On the sets of one of their films, Subash (left) and Dheeraj (right) 

“And over time, our films were being viewed by so many people online that the money generated through YouTube would suffice for our next film,” he adds.

Subashadds to that, “After completion of around 75 films, we decided to experiment with bigger budgets. And that’s when we started shooting on a large scale.”

However, it was their 100th film ‘Prayanam’ that was done on a mammoth note when compared to their standards. “We decided that since it was a landmark film and also since we wanted to make a feature film next replete with all the elements in a full-fledged film– songs, schedules, set design and even cameo appearances – we decided to do it on a !” he adds.

MR Productions' 100th film 'Prayanam'

They plan to keep working together always and have even planned their education in that way. “We were offered a film by ‘Uyyala Jampala’ producer Ram Mohan. But at that time we felt the need to be well-versed in the grammar of film making. I studied Editing and Sound Design at LV Prasad Film & TV Academy (Chennai) and Dheeraj went for a course on Direction and Screenwriting at Annapurna International School of Film & Media (Hyderabad). The film schools provided us the opportunity to ensure we are well-versed with the nitty-gritties of filmmaking,” Subhash explains.

With highly successful films like ‘Blind Date’, ‘Pelli Pustakam’, ‘Possessiveness’, ‘Prayanam’ and ‘Sambar Idly’ bringing them recognition, they say the only reason they have grown is constant feedback from viewers. “We were novices when we began. There wasn’t any kind of training and so we learnt mostly from the internet.We take viewers’ feedback very seriously and try to improve. Every film of ours has been a part of the learning curve. It’s like 100 films were 100 lessons or more!” says the duo who have been instrumental in introducing actors like Raj Tarun and Chandini who have made their way into Tollywood.

After their long expedition in the world of films, they are finally ready to venture into mainstream cinema. “We have approached a few producers who have shown interest in our script too. Let’s see how things pan out,” they say in unison.