''My film entertains viewers without following the old commercial formula,'' says debutant director Saidi Reddy Chittepu

He has been working as an assistant to many filmmakers in the Telugu film industry. He always dreams of making a movie, and he did it. Saidi Reddy Chittepu who is all set to make his directorial debut with the upcoming horror thriller 'Ja' talks about his experiences in the making of his debut film. His destiny was put on course by this Prathap Raj and Himaja starrer. In an exclusive conversation with ETimes, Saidi Reddy gets candid about 'Ja'.

When I desired to be into films and decided to wield the megaphone, the horror genre was my fascination, and I wanted to try it. When I came to do the film, along with many others there were among a person who I can never forget my producer Kandukuri Govardhan Reddy garu. If it was not for him I wouldn't have completed the film. I had no prior acquaintance with Govardhan garu, but when I presented the project to him, he supported it in a selfless manner. Without his support, I would not have made the film, it has become a reality because of him.

I was apprehensive when I started working for the film, but I came to know that the actors were co-operative if we had a good story to narrate. When I wanted to go to for hiring, I had a plan of casting Himaja of Bigg Boss fame. When we approached her, she had okayed the project. She has a full-length role thrilled us to bits. This one just entrenches her position at the apex. The central character is of course, Himaja. And we zeroed Kannada actor Prathap Raj as we were planning to pitch on live mood for the film. I had watched his Kannada film Navarathna around that time, and he had showcased natural acting in it. It's his debut in Tollywood.

The title of the film itself generates a lot of curiosity about it, but the trailer is not out yet. When he asked about the meaning of the title and its story, the debutant director said, "Ja means 'birth'. The tale is riveting and captives everyone. And the film is much different though. All I can say is that it manages to captivate you, and entertain you without following old commercial formulae. We did everything we could to rope in the viewer."

The film would have been in the post-production stage under normal circumstances. But courtesy the coronavirus pandemic, its release date is still pending, and the filming can resume only when the industry returns to normalcy. Touted to be a horror thriller, Ja also features Sudigali Sudheer, Preeti Nigam and Chatrapathi Sekhar in pivotal roles.I am glad to have such talented actors in my debut film itself.

Talking about his future projects, he said, "I have a subject in my mind. I am planning to move ahead with it soon. I haven't finalised it though." In terms of the technical crew, Vengi has been roped in to compose music for this flick while Shivakumar G has handled the cinematography and Anandh Pawan will edit it. Real Satish is in charge of stunts choreography.