I believe there’s space for good films

Kiran Meegada talks about what made him quit his job in the US to make a film My Heart is Beating

Kiran Meegada has quite a few things in common with Sekhar Kammula and Deva Katta. Both of them quit their jobs in the US to pursue a career in filmmaking and now Kiran Meegada is following a similar path. “Sekhar, Deva Katta and Krish are a big source of inspiration for me and I am a big fan of Majid Majidi,” Kiran says. Ask him what drove him to take a sabbatical from his job, he replies, “After working for more than twelve years in the US, life had become quite comfortable and I felt that my creative side was slowly dying. And I desperately wanted to do something about it.”

When he was in class 9, his mother took him to an excursion to the Talakona forest. “I ended up spending a whole day on the sets of the Venkatesh-Divya Bharati starrer Bobbili Raja. I loved the experience of being on a film set,” Kiran reminiscences. But he didn’t exactly plunge into filmmaking right after his graduating from college. “Family comes first,” he smiles, adding, “I have explored life and I believe that my way of storytelling is way better now.” Before turning director, for many years, he was the single point of contact for several Telugu filmmakers who wanted to shoot films in the US. “I used to take care of the production and in the process I worked on a few films like Swagatham, Chinthakayala Ravi, Sangamam and E Preethi,” he says.

His debut film My Heart is Beating, which he has co-directed along with his friend Arun Rudra, is a romcom set in the US and narrates a love story between two people who find it difficult to express their feelings. “I had met Arun though a common friend Srikanth Galla and initially Arun wrote the basic story and later both of us worked on fine-tuning the script. Later, we got in touch with Siva Somayajula who wrote the dialogues for the film and then we pitched the story to Rajasekhar who liked it,” Kiran informs. Incidentally, it’s the first Telugu film to have been made by a director duo and also the first Telugu film to be entirely shot in the US. Revanth, Rajitha, Srini Kolla and Ashwin Reddy are part of the cast and Kiran is full of praises for his team. “Sri Atluri introduced me to Revanth and I am sure that he will go places in his career. The others also have done a good job,” Kiran says. So what’s it like to be sharing credit with another director? “We have had our creative differences at time but it was always about how we could improve composing a shot. We were on the same page from the beginning,” Kiran replies.

There are plenty of romcoms made in Telugu every year. We ask him what sets his film apart? “Apart from being a love story set in the US, there’s something for everyone to connect with the story. There’s at least one member in every family who has been to the US. Besides, it’s an honest film. I believe there’s space for good films,” he signs off.

Tags: Deva Katta, featured, filmmaking, full-image, Kiran Meegada, My Heart is Beating, Sekhar Kammula, tollywood

Category: Tollywood