‘Romantic’ journey is a learning curve: Anil Paduri

Hyderabad: Following the hype and the response for the trailer of Puri Akash and Ketika Sharma starrer ‘Romantic’, newcomer visual effects-technician turned director Anil Paduri feels he couldn’t have a better debut than this one as he calls it a transformative journey with his mentor Puri Jagannadh. 

Being broadly knowledgeable in the field of arts and graphics department, Anil’s talent was spotted first by Jr NTR on the sets of ‘Temper’ and later he was introduced to Puri Jagannadh. Anil’s inquiring mind, his knack to delve deep into stories, – is what landed him a project and successfully transformed Puri’s creative energy into a cinematic story ‘Romantic’.

“I was a simple painter and won prizes at State and national level competitions before I made a career in the visual effects sector. During the making of NTR’s ‘Temper’ I was introduced to Puri sir. I was a novice, and never worked under any director. I used to keenly observe directors on the sets. The process of transforming a few pages of story into a fully coherent visual format always thrilled me. I worked as a visual effects technician for movies like ‘Yamadonga’, ‘Magadheera’, ‘Legend’, ‘Endukante Premante’, ‘Darling’ and ‘Maryada Ramanna’. Later, Puri and Charmee came to me saying that I have tenacity and potential to express my ideas on screen. Thus, ‘Romantic’ took an initial shape. The journey with a filmmaker like Puri has transformed me as a person,” he says.

Initially, Puri Jagannadh wanted ‘Romantic’ to be made in the place of romantic drama ‘Mehbooba’ featuring Akash Puri as an aspiring soldier, who falls in love with Afreen, a Pakistani girl studying in India. Later, he called me up to offer ‘Romantic’. 

“The story explores various shades of love. What if a youngster tread a path full of thorns despite knowing that it would cause him harm? How one can define and differentiate the terms lust and love? – is what the audience gets to explore. Since, the idea and script belongs to Puri sir, it would definitely have his imprint on it. Like every filmmaker treats his product as a baby, Puri too handled it carefully until its out. Watching the final cut in the editing room, he was emotionally broken. It was fortunate to work with Puri sir for the film which I’ve to say is a learning curve in my career,” he adds.