Sekhar Kammula: Women and men are the same
Nature is at its picturesque best and almost an integral character in the
film. You have shown the river and Paapikondalu in a new light. How did you choose the locations?
It is the camera work by Vijay Kumar. We went on a reconnaissance for two months before the shoot. It's not easy to compose a shot because everything is beautiful. The critical things are sunrise and sunset. So, there was a lot of logistics involved.
You mentioned in an earlier interview that the shooting schedule was the longest outdoor one in Telugu cinema history. What kind of difficulties did you put up with while shooting on the river?
We didn't move for the first two weeks -- not a shot was canned. Slowly, we realised we had to give in to the river. In one area, the sun is visible at 6 am; in others, it would rise at 7 am. It was all weather-dependent.
The Godavari was turbulent. At night, you couldn't see the person next to you. It was not easy. It was difficult carrying 200 people on board, keeping them on the boat and not shooting. It was frustrating for the first two weeks. Then, we decided to take it as a journey -- our journey. And we began to enjoy it. By the time it ended, people didn't want to come back. It was haunting. We were all together and like a family. The budget was overshot, but I must thank the producer who had the vision to stick with me.