MMM: What motivated you to make this movie?

GUNAMAGARI: During a documentary recce [a preproduction visit to a location], a guy came over to me, curious about what we were filming. After a brief period of my answering his questions,  I asked him about his aims and dreams, and that’s how we ended with the Gopi character, my protagonist. Gopi was the guy’s real name and he directly inspired me in making Vadrangi.

MMM: Why did you decide to shoot the movie using a smartphone rather than a traditional camera?

GUNAMAGARI: I really wanted to participate in Filmic Pro competition.

MMM:  So of course that meant shooting with a mobile. Got it.

GUNAMAGARI: I was a little reluctant on shooting a film on smartphone, but as we rolled our very first shot we were blown away. What a smartphone can do with so little gear and with right attention to light and detail was unbelievable.

Smartphones cut down lot of time like carrying extra gear and setting up our regular sliders/tripods/monopods, and cage rigs.  It was way easier to roll our shots as soon as we are in location.

MMM: Can you give us a couple of examples of how the Filmic Pro app benefited your project?

GUNAMAGARI: Without Filmic Pro we couldn’t have achieved the quality, frame rate and detail. Filmic Pro gives you total control on your smartphone camera. We shot in 2K DCI format to get more control in post production. Filmic Pro turns your basic smartphone camera into a pro camera. We got total control on aperture/shutter speed/frame rate/ISO levels which totally blew our minds. A must tool for every filmmaker in run and gun situations. Iphone + Filmicpro is a must tool in our gear now, a great tool to get those impossible shots like POV or worm angles.

MMM:  The locations are terrific. Where do you shoot  the movie?

GUNAMAGARI: In Hyderabad, India. Most of the locations were in and around our city. For the key location, Paramount Automobiles lent us their garage for a complete one day shoot. That was so generous of them. Without the garage we would have never pulled off the production values we achieved in this film.

MMM: How long did the production take?

GUNAMAGARI: The whole production took four days, with one day for pre-production, twos days for the shoot, and the last day for all post production.

MMM:  Can you tell us anything about the cast?

GUNAMAGARI: Casting was never an issue, I had only one character to plan off and our friend Rajanikanth was always my first choice. He understands me and gives out exactly what I’m looking for.

MMM: Were there any difficulties that you had to overcome in making the movie?

GUNAMAGARI: We did have couple of hurdles during the production. On our very first day of shoot I specifically wanted to get the opening shot right before sunrise. Our friend Rajanikanth (Gopi) who does overnight shifts at an IT company, couldn’t make it on time. We managed to get the shot with help of our friend (D.O.P) Edurollu Raju. He fired up our transport vehicle and made sure we reach the location before we lost the light. Aditya, our sound recordist,  was been sick during production. With three days left for deadline he did manage to film with us and work overnights to deliver content on time.

MMM: Time and again we hear about the importance of the team.

GUNAMAGARI: Without my team I would have never pulled off ‘Vadrangi’.

MMM: How did you become a filmmaker?

GUNAMAGARI: I’m a zealous fan of films and drama. I break down the films and reverse engineer on how and what they did to make the scene look the way it is. I have never been to any schools or crash courses, I’m a self taught person and I continue to learn by my experiences.

MMM:  Do you have any advice for others who plan to shoot movies using mobile devices? Or simply advice about making a memorable movie?

GUNAMAGARI: Be yourself and ignore all the criticism. I have heard people complaining about not having great cameras and gear. I have started up making my first story with a basic VGA camera. Its all about the story,visuals and sound that you bring together, be it a professional camera or the basic smartphone camera. Smartphones have become more advanced and that’s one easy way to share your stories.

MMM: Can you give us a hint about your next project?

GUNAMAGARI: I definitely want to make a film which revolves around a young entrepreneur. The film is tentatively titled as “Uday”. It’s been a dream project for almost a year and half.

MMM: We look forward to seeing it!