Software engineer Surya Vasishta always dreamt of becoming an actor. His dream came true with the Kannada series, Jogula (Zee Kannada, 2008). He also donned the titular role of Sai Baba for Kasturi TV. The hurdles he faced did not deter him. “Which profession is devoid of challenges?” says Surya. “Once I discovered the joys of storytelling, I could not think of doing anything else.”
Surya, runs a corporate film studio, Astu Studios, which brings in his bread and butter. He has worked for films including U-Turn andGantu Moote. “I am passionate about acting and everything that surrounds filmmaking.” Surya now makes his debut as a leading man in Saramsha that he has also written and directed.
The film, Surya says, revolves around a writer, who meets the characters of his stories. “The subject revolves around the idea of reading and telling stories. When we finish a book, all we are left with are the emotions connected with the book and its summary. That is why the title Saramsha.”
An avid reader, Surya describes a line of dialogue in the film. and adds: “It goes like this — ‘I am a summary of my emotions and experiences’. I believe, at the end of the day I am just a label.”
Working as an assistant director for Agni Sreedhar’s Thamassu, was when a spark came alive for Surya. “The experience of living through the emotions of the characters you create during the writing process and then seeing an actor breathe life into this character, fascinated me. It was a strange conflict — is character I created real or the actor who plays it? That is what triggered off the process of Saramsha. The relationship a writer has with his characters is what stayed in my mind and that is how the premise became a screenplay.”
Saramsha, which releases on February 15, has been predominantly shot in Bengaluru with some portions in Manipal. It is produced by Ravi Kashyap (Vibha Kashyap Productions) and RK Nallam (Klapboard Productions). “The film does not have a music director’s credit, but we have two composers who have done music for us. The songs have been composed by Udith Haritas, while the background score is by Aparajith Sris,” says Surya. The film also has a debut cinematographer in Ananth Bharadwaj.
Deepak Subramanya, Sruti Hariharan and Shweta Gupta star in the film. “I started off just writing the story. I wanted to be a part of the film as an actor, but did not write the script keeping myself in mind. When I started exploring what particular story I wanted to tell on screen, this particular story unfolded itself on my paper. Sruti came on board as she is an old friend from Lucia days.”
Surya was a part of the Lucia crowd-funding campaign and co-founded Home Talkies with director Pawan Kumar. “Sruti being a national award winner was an additional perk. I have known Deepak from his Ayana days. It was his debut as a leading man and the film won the State Award. I found him versatile. Since this is also my directorial debut, I looked out for actors with whom I shared a certain comfort level.”
Saramsha, Surya says, will have many psychological layers. “I believe it is a combination of an emotional drama and magical realism. Magical, because it has a few magical elements, and real, because it is not a fantasy. The film is set in the everyday, in a world where everyone can connect to the world on screen and the characters. Since the story revolves around books, I wanted that aspect reflected on screen, hence, there will be a metaphorical aspect. The film’s tagline, ‘You cannot find closure to your story if someone else is writing it,’ echoes this thought.”
The above article recently appeared on The Hindu here.