Venky Atluri, writer-director of Vaathi/Sir (2023), Lucky Baskhar (2024), and the upcoming Suriya-Mamitha Baiju starrer family romance Vishwanath and Sons, elaborated on the one quality that runs true among fine actors.
Speaking to THR India about working with actors such as Dhanush, Dulquer Salmaan and Suriya, the actor said, "They respect time. They don't waste your time; they don't expect their time to be wasted."
The practical effect of this, he explained, extends to how a film's crew prepares. "If an actor is coming to the set with his homework done, we have to finish our homework a day before so that we don't have to make them wait."
He further elaborated, “Working with some of the finest actors is helpful for me and the production, because wastage on set and the number of days for production will be under control.”
He backed this up with the shoot schedules of his films. Vaathi, a bilingual film, was completed in 85 to 86 days. Lucky Baskhar, a financial thriller, took less than 100 days. The schedule for Vishwanath and Sons carried the same efficiency, the director shared.
He described this as a shift from how he worked earlier in his career, and from what he considers standard practice in Telugu cinema. "Usually, even in my previous films, we used to shoot for 20 days, break for 10 to 12 days, shoot for another 20 days, and then wait for another 10 days."
The intervals, to him, bear a cost that goes beyond scheduling. “A lot of actors, except for the main leads, are usually doing many other films. So for them to come in and out of the character, it'll take some little time. But when you do it in a single stretch, everybody will be in the skin of the character.”
He revealed the conversation he shared with producer Naga Vamsi about expanding this discipline to the post-production and release schedule of the film. "If we can really finish off a film in seven months, and release it in the eighth month, it's of huge help to the production."
Written and directed by Venky Atluri, the film is produced by Naga Vamsi and Sai Soujanya.