Sukumar is known for his improvisations, right?
Exactly. The lines keep changing swiftly. The context remains unchanged, but the punch and the drama keep getting enhanced. He is always open to adding new layers. Other filmmakers might have trouble judging an improvisation but Sukumar garu is a master on this front. Even when he has all the material in his arsenal, he always needs that one additional punch; he’s always going the extra mile.
In what capacity are you involved in Pushpa 2?
I’m involved in the overall writing process. Sukumar sir explains the scene, its outcome, and how it’s connected to other scenes. We then have the total freedom to write it, and he filters what he wants to incorporate into the scene.
Going back in time, how did your journey into films happen?
I have been interested in literature since childhood and I will attribute it to the access I had to public libraries while growing up. From popular writers like Yandamuri Veerendranath to more serious ones like Chalam, KNY Patanjali, Adivi Baapiraj and Vamsi, I have read their works and this created a strong desire to express what’s happening in and around me. I realised I could tell the stories of people around me, and express my empathy towards them in my writings. If someone needs help, I might not be in a position to resolve their problems, but I could do it in my stories by making them a character. That’s what triggered me to write and as I started writing short stories, I realised that cinema is the biggest medium to tell your stories. But naturally, life happened and I had to build a career. So I ended up in Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, where I was designing the seats of aircraft. I worked in Bangalore, Chennai, Seattle, and then finally moved to Hyderabad. I met director Karuna Kumar through a writing community, and we ended up collaborating on Palasa 1978 (2020), on which I served as a co-writer and Sridevi Soda Center (2021), which was an adaptation of one of my short stories. I had a full-time job when I worked on those films.