Ashta Chamma
| Ashta Chamma | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for the film | |
| Directed by | Mohan Krishna Indraganti |
| Produced by | Ram Mohan P |
| Written by | Mohan Krishna Indraganti |
| Starring |
Colours Swathi Nani Srinivas Avasarala Bhargavi Tanikella Bharani |
| Music by | Kalyani Malik |
| Cinematography | P.G. Vinda |
| Edited by | Marthand K. Venkatesh |
Release dates | 5 September 2008 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
Ashta Chamma is a 2008 Telugu, comedy film written and directed by Mohan Krishna Indraganti. The film deals with four quirky characters interwoven in a romantic narration. The film stars Colours Swathi, Nani, Srinivas Avasarala and Bhargavi in the lead with Tanikella Bharani in a supporting role.[1][2]
The movie is based on Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest.
Plot
The movie starts with a small introduction that all the female fans of actor Mahesh Babu were "angry" with him when he got married. Even the heroine is one of them, though she is a die hard fan. Although her aunt (Jhansi) keeps telling her that it's not possible to get her married to Mahesh she pays no heed and stays depressed for days. Finally, she compromises with her aunt by demanding that her husband's name must be Mahesh. Her aunt relents and starts the search for the groom, though in vain.
Her neighbor, Anand, helps the heroine by searching a seemingly perfect "Mahesh". He becomes friends with him and sees that Mahesh is a classy, handsome guy. Soon, the neighbor introduces the two and the couple seem destined to be together forever—until the twists come with the realization that "Mahesh" is not his real name and that he has another life and a sister in a village.
The script is an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play called "The Importance Of Being Earnest". On many occasions the script retains the original screenplay but adds a twist to suit the Indian audience.
Cast
- Colours Swathi as Lavanya
- Nani as Rambabu/Mahesh
- Srinivas Avasarala as Anand
- Bhargavi as Varalakshmi
- Tanikella Bharani as Sarva Sarma
- Hema as Ammaji/Hanasurya
- Jhansi as Mandira Devi
- Vasu Inturi as Ranga
- Sivannarayana as Anand's father
- Ragini as Anand's mother
Production
Indraganti debuted with the National Film Award-winning Grahanam (2005) and followed it up with Mayabazaar (2006). While working on the characters, the story became more female-centric and thereby departed from Wilde's narration. After working on the story's draft of 225 pages for about two months, he began fine-tuning it for another few months.[3] The film was produced by Ram Mohan, his first production venture. Mohan, a management graduate from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, previously worked for UTV Software Communications. While Kalyani Malik was hired to compose the music and the background score, Marthand K. Venkatesh was chosen as the film's editor.[3]
The film is named after Ashta Chamma, a game from the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The game, which is otherwise known as Ludo, was released as part of the film's promotion.[3]
While Indraganti wanted Bhumika Chawla to be cast in the leading role, he chose Colours Swathi in the supporting role. However, when he was unsuccessful in hiring Chawla for the film, he promoted Swathi to the lead role.[1] Swati held a good opinion about Indraganti, whom she thought to be quite an educated director.[4] After confirming Swathi for the role, Indraganti was scouting for three more actors to form the primary cast. During this period, Swathi completed the Tamil film, Subramaniapuram.[4]
Awards
- Best Actress – Telugu - Swathi
- Akkineni Award for Best Home-viewing Feature Film - Ram Mohan
- Best Actress - Swathi
References
- 1 2 Rajamani, Radhika (2008-09-01). "Taking on Oscar Wilde!". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
- ↑ "Interview with Mohana Krishna Indraganti". Idlebrain.com. 2008-07-10. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
- 1 2 3 Rajamani, Radhika (2008-08-04). "When ludo inspired Mohan Krishna". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
- 1 2 Rajamani, Radhika (2008-09-01). "The transformation of Swati". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-07.