How many of us have taken engineering courses but are pursuing something else professionally now? If this question is posed in a room full of youngsters, many hands will go up. And if directors and close friends Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam (of Pelli Choopulu and Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi fame) and Upendra Varma (known for his short film Last Night) were in the same room, their hands would have been the first ones to go up. Kindergarten friends who studied in Hyderabad Public School together, they pursued BTech, albeit from different colleges, and now are doing what they love - directing. They even started Vinoothna Geetha, a content providing production house, and are happily pursuing their passion.
Their passion has brought them back to BTech, but this time, it's not about the course. BTech is the name of their latest web series which premiered on November 15 on Zee5. Written by Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam and directed by Upendra Varma, this nine-episode series has three stories running parallely, of three boys. And before we assume that the movie is a 3 Idiots-esque drama about a college and its atmosphere, Varma tells us otherwise. "It's about chasing one's dreams, no matter what," says the 29-year-old director. One trivia Varma shares about BTech is that Bhascker had written it even before his first feature film, which also won two National Awards, Pelli Choopulu. "He had taken the script of BTech to 30-40 producers, but all of them were of the opinion that he should make something light-hearted for his first directorial venture and that's how Pelli Choopulu happened," recalls Varma, who has worked with Bhascker and his films. After doing a realistic movie like Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi, they revisited BTech and reworked it here and there to make it into a web series. Thanks to all their effort, the series is being produced by YuppTV and the music is given by none other than Raghu Dixit.
Varma began shooting in October 2017 and most portions were shot in Hyderabad, others in Vikarabad and Chennai. The scheduled was wrapped in 58 days and the post-production was done by March this year. "The budget was a constraint but the passionate cast and crew made it possible," he says. They even faced issues when it came to acquiring permissions from locations for shooting. But when they completed their final schedule, Varma immediately called up his pal Bhascker and they shared an emotional moment. "He loved it and we both were just so happy," exclaims Varma.
Now, Varma feels that he is ready to take on a feature-length film. He has a script in mind already and is yet again, ready to follow wherever his passion takes him. "Which is the message behind BTech actually, that we must follow our hearts relentlessly," he concludes.
Three Musketeers
The three protagonists of the film of the film are:
Abhay - A boy from the village, he has come to the city to make his mark
Akthar - Akthar is from Old City and is a biker
Vikram - He comes from a middle-class family and wants to make films
For more on him, click on facebook.com/upendra.varma