Sekhar Kammula: Women and men are the same
There is an undercurrent of the Ramayana in Godavari. The characters are
named Sriram and Sita. Sriram is portrayed as the good, helpful man who is rather idealistic, while Sita is a strong woman. Was this allusion deliberate?
No. I thought Sita is more for support. I wrote her character as a more supportive one. Ram, for me, is lord Rama. The story of the Ramayana is not the power of god; it is the power of the human. That avatar says you shouldn't pray for a life without struggles. Rather, struggles should be overcome
and in an idealistic, fair way. You should have support to do it. Today, wrong is becoming right and I firmly believe things will change when the educated middle class will get into governance. So, that is reflected in my hero.
The concept of choosing a journey that can change life is interesting. Here, it is the river instead of the road. How did you choose this?
Purely because of Bapu's Andala Ramudu. He did it 33 years ago. Bapu is a genius. He introduced me to that beautiful journey. I just repeated the trip. I feel lucky to do it.