For many years, we’re familiar with the content that is being provided by Chai Bisket team. They’ve recently released an independent film titled ‘Negative’, directed by Bala Satish. The film is getting good response on social media, and I take the pleasure of presenting you the director Bala Satish.
How and where did your journey actually begin?
My journey started at Satyam Yabi Film Institute, in 2011. From there, with screenplay workshops for almost 4 years, I’ve become an independently grown filmmaker. And I’ve worked for a few films where I translated from Tamil to Telugu.
Negative is being appreciated by almost everyone. How does it feel?
Yes. The reception is truly good. But, I don’t think it’s liked by everyone. Due to some writing glitches, people might get bored for a while. I admit and understand what went wrong, and will definitely try to make sure that won’t happen from next time.
What exactly is the reason behind the birth of this story?
For the last 2 years, we have been treating this word ‘Negative’ on a very Positive note. But, instead of Coronavirus, I thought of dealing with another subject. So, I wanted to choose HIV and deal with it, because unprotected sex is now a common mistake among the youth. Though they don’t share with others, or nothing happens to them, the issue exists in our society. Because of that, many youngsters are suffering with depression and taking extreme decisions. And if they commit suicide, their families fall into deep troubles. So, all these issues were in my mind, and I designed a story based on this.
The story is all about the journey of two people. Have you done any research to design the characters?
No research was done. I just started writing, and I continued with the flow. Moreover, I think I haven’t showed something which we don’t know. Here and there, we grew up hearing or reading such stories. So, all that was put on the paper. Also, while writing I enjoyed every bit of it.
How was the casting done? And when you narrated the story, what was their reaction?
The male lead was done by my friend Vivek. We know each other for a very long time, we both went to the same institute in 2011. So, when I shared my thought, he immediately said he would do it. And when we approached Swetaa and narrated the script, she became silent for a while. She started thinking while having her cappuccino, and after a very long silence she said Yes.
No matter how strong and deep is your idea, it needs the support of a great team to take it to the audience. Tell us about your team.
All the 3 – cinematographer, music director and editor are my friends. They worked very hard, and delivered more than what I expected.
Negative was released in Chai Bisket. But, before release, did you contact anyone for the release and what went between the production and release?
It was actually done for film festivals. We thought of making it as a short film, but eventually the runtime increased and became an independent film. The title ‘Negative’ wouldn’t attract many, but somehow we got connected with the Chai Bisket team, and they liked it. Chai Bisket has been very famous for encouraging great content, so they accepted to release it in their channel.
In the end, the past of the character Swetaa was told in animation. Who came up with the idea?
It was my idea. The past was already revealed through a conversation between the lead pair, but I thought of saying it again in the form of sketches. But, I felt sketches won’t be effective enough to share the story, so we approached a professional artist and made the animated version.
You might have seen the previous films of Swetaa Varma. What do you feel about her character and her performance as a director?
Swetaa always does a challenging role. In ‘Negative’, playing a HIV patient, and that too a prostitute is bigger challenge. But, she pulled it off with ease.
Are you interested to work with others as a writer or director?
If something of that kind comes in my way, I would definitely like to do.
We are witnessing the rise of OTT, and lot of content is being made in Telugu. Would you like to be a part of content creation for OTT, or continue to make films for theatres?
I continue to work for creating content for theatrical release.
After ‘Negative’, people who liked your content will look out for something new in future. What would you say to them?
Defintiely, there would be content with great quality. I personally feel that audience just need entertainment from cinema, and they don’t really look at the genre. I like director Shankar Shanmugam a lot, and he is my inspiration. So, the audience can expect entertainment with great quality from my films.
