0:08

Hi , I

0:12

am Curious Vedant and welcome to

0:14

the hundred and fortyth episode of my

0:16

podcast . I am recording this very

0:19

special episode at the legendary

0:21

Anupurna Studios in Hyderabad

0:23

, india . I am here to interview

0:25

the legendary , award-winning actress

0:27

, bharath Nantiam Dancer and

0:30

the top animal activist of the country

0:32

, ms Amala Akineni , the

0:34

director of Anupurna College of

0:36

Film and Media and the

0:38

co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad

0:40

, one of the top animal welfare organizations

0:43

in India . Hi , ms Akineni , welcome

0:45

to my show .

0:47

Hi Vedant , thank you for that

0:49

lovely introduction . Really

0:51

appreciate it and welcome to Anupurna

0:53

Studios , thank you thank you .

0:57

I've been to Anupurna Studios

0:59

before , but this is something different

1:01

. It's really cool .

1:04

Well , this is a classroom actually , and

1:06

it's a screening classroom where

1:08

we watch what the students have made , and

1:11

so it's really cool and fun . We

1:13

sit here and we discuss their projects . That's

1:16

nice , that's fun , so

1:20

congratulations . This is your hundred and fortyth

1:22

podcast .

1:23

I was told and , yeah , it's been

1:26

a journey for me . I've enjoyed it , Nice

1:29

. And how is Singapore ? Singapore is good

1:31

. I really enjoy it . I

1:33

just moved to schools recently and I'm

1:35

really enjoying it , Nice

1:40

, nice . So through this interview , we'll

1:42

talk about your journey as an artist , your

1:44

efforts to improve the lives of animals

1:47

and your role as an educator

1:49

at Anupurna College . To start

1:51

off , can you tell me a little about your childhood

1:53

? What drew you to dancing and art

1:56

?

1:58

My parents were in the Navy

2:01

, my dad was

2:03

in the Indian Navy and my

2:05

mom had been a naval officer and

2:08

my dad moved around

2:10

a lot . They keep getting posted in different

2:12

naval parts of India naval

2:16

centers , and because

2:19

of that I went to boarding school . I

2:23

had seen Bharatanatyam

2:27

being performed on stage and I thought it

2:29

was the most beautiful art form and

2:31

I wanted to learn it , and so

2:33

my parents sent me to a place called

2:35

Kalakshitra in Chennai and

2:38

there I had some wonderful

2:40

teachers and it's a beautiful campus

2:43

. I studied in

2:45

school there and then went to college

2:47

and all along I had dance

2:50

classes . In the evenings the

2:55

campus was full of animals . There

2:57

were like 14 community

3:00

dogs and there were cats and there

3:02

were cows and there were goats and

3:05

lots and lots of birds . Like

3:08

you see the forest here . It

3:10

was a beautiful forest

3:14

, like trees , and there

3:16

were lakes when it rained and

3:18

a lot of daft chicks would come and have

3:20

babies there

3:23

snakes , and so I really

3:25

grew up in a beautiful campus

3:27

which had a lot of nature around

3:29

it , and I learned to be very comfortable

3:31

with animals . My

3:34

dance teacher , sharda Hoffman

3:36

, and her husband , peter Hoffman

3:39

, had a very deep influence

3:41

on me and

3:43

they used to encourage me to be

3:45

kind to animals . Rukmini

3:48

Devi , our founder herself . She

3:50

spoke beautifully

3:52

about helping animals and I

3:55

think all of that really left

3:57

a deep impression on me , and I

3:59

used to help all the animals on the campus

4:02

. I rescued my first

4:04

animal when I was maybe 7

4:06

or 8 years old . Yeah

4:08

, so that's how it started .

4:11

That's amazing . Kala

4:14

Kshetra sounds like a very , very nice place

4:16

. It was .

4:18

It's in Chennai , right .

4:19

That's right . How

4:22

did you arrive at the decision to go there

4:24

? Were there others among

4:26

your peers who also went

4:28

there to or , if

4:31

not went there , pursued a similar career

4:33

, and also did you have

4:35

the support of your parents ?

4:38

My parents were very supportive . In

4:41

fact , I was learning

4:43

dance in Vizag in

4:45

the Naval base with all my friends

4:48

, and my dance teacher told

4:50

my mother this girl is

4:52

gifted , why don't you take her

4:54

to some serious training

4:57

? I've taught her what I know and

4:59

she guided her to take me to Kala

5:01

Kshetra my mother , of course . I was the youngest

5:04

child . I have an older brother and an older

5:06

sister . She

5:09

was hesitant to send me to

5:11

boarding school so young . So

5:13

she took me to Chennai and she said

5:15

let her see , and if she really

5:17

likes it , if she decides and

5:19

she wants to go , then we will send her . And

5:22

that's what happened . I went , my

5:25

mother took me . It was the summer holidays

5:27

and I walked around the campus

5:29

and I thought I was in heaven because

5:32

it was so different from a crowded

5:34

city the tall trees and

5:37

all the birds and this open

5:40

space and the dance

5:42

class . And I just love

5:45

to dance . So every evening

5:47

, three to five , we had our

5:49

dance class , or three , 15 to five

5:51

o'clock , we

5:53

had our dance class and it was the most magical

5:55

thing for me and I said

5:58

, yes , I want to go . And my

6:00

parents packed my suitcase

6:02

for me and sent me off to

6:04

Kala Kshetra .

6:06

Yeah , that you , and it sounds

6:08

like you had a wonderful time there . I

6:10

did .

6:11

I did . You know it's

6:13

normal to miss home the first

6:15

few days , but then I made

6:17

friends and there were girls from

6:19

all over the world . They were

6:21

from all different parts of India

6:24

, from different countries of the world

6:26

and the minute I made

6:28

friends I was okay

6:30

and I got over my homesickness and

6:33

I spent almost 10 years in that

6:35

hostel . I

6:37

went to school and I went to college

6:39

and I made friends . Today

6:42

, whenever I go to Chennai or

6:44

any part of India and one of my hostel

6:46

friends are there , it's like I'm

6:48

going home . It's so nice

6:50

to see them all .

6:53

That's nice . And you mentioned that Rukmini

6:56

Devi Arun Del was the founder

6:59

of Kala Kshetra . Did you ever have

7:01

a chance to meet her and

7:03

did she mentor you

7:05

and any dance ? And

7:08

you said that she was also the one who

7:10

sparked your animal welfare journey

7:12

. Right , Right .

7:14

Right , yes

7:16

, rukmini Devi was the

7:20

director of Kala Kshetra when I was

7:22

a young student there and

7:25

I used to see her at prayer

7:27

meetings . She would be there

7:29

and she was always the most elegant

7:32

. She

7:34

was in her 80s at that time . She

7:36

was the most elegant 80-year-old

7:38

I had ever seen and she

7:41

spoke so softly and so

7:43

beautifully and so compassionately

7:46

, trying to awaken

7:48

all of us to being kind to animals

7:51

and to be considerate

7:54

to them and not to propagate

7:56

cruelty . She used to talk about

7:59

vegetarianism . My

8:04

dance teacher , sharada

8:06

Hoffman . She had

8:08

a very deep impact

8:11

on me because I spent

8:13

a lot more time with her Every

8:16

day in the dance class and then after

8:18

rehearsals and dance practice she

8:22

would take us home and feed us sandwiches

8:24

and she

8:27

would talk to us about all the things

8:29

that Rukmini Devi had set up

8:31

and had intended to do . And

8:35

Sharada teacher's husband

8:37

, peter Hoffman . Peter Hoffman

8:39

was Rukmini Devi's

8:41

support to prepare

8:45

the report for the prevention of cruelty

8:47

to animals . So

8:50

in 1958 , rukmini

8:52

Devi presented in parliament

8:55

a report that Peter Hoffman had

8:57

prepared in great detail

8:59

regarding the condition

9:02

of animals across India and the cruelty

9:04

being meted out , and

9:07

Rukmini Devi presented this in parliament

9:09

she was an MP at the time , and

9:12

in parliament , pandit

9:15

Nehru , who was the Prime Minister

9:17

, he took the report

9:19

and he said leave this with me

9:21

, I would like to bring this in as an act

9:23

. And two years

9:25

later 1960 , the Prevention

9:27

of Cruelty to Animals Act came

9:29

in as an act of parliament . So

9:32

the person who wrote that report

9:34

was like a father to me . Peter

9:36

Hoffman and I grew up in their

9:39

home and their campus and

9:42

both Sharada teacher and

9:44

Peter Hoffman had a deep influence

9:47

on me and they in turn had

9:49

been deeply influenced by Rukmini

9:51

Devi herself .

9:54

And that sounds really nice . And

9:57

my father has talked to me about the prevention

10:00

for cruelty to animals at

10:02

many times and I didn't

10:04

know that Rukmini Devi was the one

10:06

who presented it . I

10:08

only learned that a few days ago . And

10:13

after Kalakshetra , where

10:16

did you go ?

10:20

In Kalakshetra . Well , I had a

10:22

very exciting life in Kalakshetra

10:24

. It was all between schooling

10:27

, college , dance travels

10:30

, tours , dance performances

10:32

. I had

10:34

an offer . I mean movie

10:36

directors used to come after seeing

10:39

the dance . They would come and ask me if

10:41

I wanted to act in films . And

10:44

in my final year at Kalakshetra

10:46

I thought okay , I have to think

10:48

of what I want to do as a career . And

10:52

one particular director

10:55

and his wife , who was the producer , they

10:57

came and asked me to do a film and they said

10:59

this film requires

11:02

a classical dancer . So will

11:04

you be the heroine of

11:06

the film who is supposed to be a

11:08

classical dancer ? And

11:10

until then I used to laugh thinking how

11:12

can I act in films ? I don't know acting and

11:14

all of that . But when they said do you

11:16

want , will you act ? We need

11:18

a classical dancer , then

11:20

it made a click for me . You

11:23

know , things fell into place

11:25

and I said this I can do . I

11:27

said , okay , let me try . I have to explore

11:29

what , in which field I can build

11:32

a career . And I did that

11:34

film , even though

11:36

I didn't know how to act . The

11:38

director said no , don't worry , I will teach

11:40

you how to act and I will train you and

11:44

it was very interesting . The whole film

11:47

we finished in about six or eight

11:49

months and the film released . And

11:52

when the movie released I remember

11:54

going to see it in the theater and

11:58

it was very exciting to see myself

12:01

up there on the big screen . And

12:03

when I came out of the theater I

12:05

was writing my TVS 50 , which

12:07

I used to do as a student , and

12:10

it was Adyar Crossroads

12:12

, the main Adyar lights

12:15

, the traffic lights , and I

12:17

was on my TVS 50 coming from the

12:19

theater and suddenly everybody

12:22

around me started saying Amala

12:24

, Amala , amala , paru , amala

12:26

, paru . And oh , my goodness

12:28

, I got which is look , look , look

12:30

, it's Amala . And

12:32

I got so frightened and realized

12:34

, oh , everybody's recognizing me because

12:36

now I'm a movie

12:39

actor . And

12:41

so I realized I need to buy

12:43

a car now and

12:46

that prompted me to go and sign my

12:48

second film . But

12:50

, jokes apart , it was very exciting

12:53

because suddenly I had so many offers

12:55

and so many people who wanted

12:58

to make movies with me , and

13:00

for the next eight years

13:02

I was busy every

13:05

single day shooting

13:07

movies in five different languages

13:10

right across the country .

13:13

Yeah , well , that

13:15

sounds like a dream . It

13:17

sounds so

13:20

amazing and wow

13:23

, I would love to watch

13:25

those movies someday .

13:27

You should watch a film called Pushpak , which

13:29

should be on YouTube . It's

13:31

a film which doesn't have any dialogues

13:34

.

13:34

Yeah , yeah

13:36

, what was your favorite movie

13:38

that you acted in ?

13:40

You know I did a lot of favorite

13:42

movies , but

13:45

I think I have a couple of

13:47

favorite movies in every language

13:49

, yeah , so

13:52

I have a favorite movie in

13:55

Malayalam , which

13:57

was called Yanda Suryaputri , and

14:01

I have a favorite movie in Tamil

14:04

, which is I have two favorite

14:06

movies in Tamil . One

14:08

was called Agni Nakshatra , which

14:12

was made with Manirathnam sir , and

14:15

the other was a recent one called

14:17

Kanam Sri Kartik

14:20

, made by Sri Kartik

14:22

. I have a

14:24

favorite movies in Telugu . One

14:27

was a film called Shiva . There

14:30

was another very nice film called Ninnayam

14:32

, but then I've also

14:34

done my last film in

14:36

Telugu , which is called Ok

14:38

Okajivitham . Yeah , then

14:42

in Hindi . Of course , shiva was

14:44

in Hindi too , but I have a

14:46

latest release in Hindi

14:48

called Tumse Nahopayega

14:50

. I'm playing the protagonist's mom

14:53

, and he's a young entrepreneur

14:55

and it's all about the struggles he

14:57

has and how his mom supports him

14:59

. So , yeah , so it's lots

15:02

of fun . So many movies . But

15:04

Pushpuk , interestingly , was made

15:06

in Kannada . So

15:08

, yeah , five languages for

15:11

you .

15:11

Wow , five languages , that's a lot

15:14

of languages , and you must

15:16

have had to learn all of them

15:18

, right ?

15:19

Yes , you see , as an actor you don't

15:22

have to be perfect

15:24

at anything , but you

15:26

can act like you're perfect , so

15:29

you can do many things and

15:32

you don't have to worry about being perfect

15:34

.

15:37

But that's amazing . You've

15:40

had a very , very successful acting

15:42

career . I've had a very interesting

15:44

one . Yeah

15:49

, and how did the Blue Cross of

15:51

Hyderabad come about and what does

15:53

it do ?

15:55

So in 1992

15:59

, which is almost 32 years ago

16:01

, I married my husband

16:03

, who's also a very famous movie

16:06

star and a producer and he

16:08

owns Anapudna Studios

16:10

. His name is Naga Juna

16:12

, yeah , yeah , and

16:15

I married him . And when I came to Hyderabad , I married him

16:17

. And when I came to Hyderabad , it

16:19

struck me that I didn't have to

16:21

go to work the next day , because

16:24

for eight years , back to back , every day , I was

16:26

going to work , every single day

16:28

. And suddenly I had taken a break

16:30

and come to Hyderabad , a new city , and

16:33

my husband was very supportive . He said

16:35

yeah , you know what you want , you

16:37

don't have to go to work . If you don't want to go

16:39

to work , it's up to you . Enjoy

16:42

, enjoy

16:44

your life . And so I

16:46

got up and I was visiting

16:49

a friend and during

16:53

the journey in my car

16:55

I saw a lorry run over

16:58

a goat and

17:00

I jumped out and I picked it up and

17:02

I looked for a number , because

17:04

in Chennai I used to take them straight

17:06

to Blue Cross of India . That

17:09

used to be the place , the animal shelter

17:11

I used to volunteer at . I used

17:13

to take them there and I realized there was no number

17:15

to call here , so I took it

17:18

to a veterinary hospital

17:20

in Shantinagar and there was a lovely

17:22

, wonderful lady Vet

17:25

there who worked for the government . Her

17:27

name was Dr Vijay Kumari and

17:30

she helped me . You know , bandage

17:32

the goat up and I brought it home

17:34

and within one month

17:37

, vedant , my house

17:39

, was an animal shelter . I had

17:41

injured dogs and cats

17:43

and puppies and kittens and

17:45

birds , and I had a buffalo

17:47

with a broken hip and a donkey

17:50

with a broken leg and a blind

17:52

mongoose . I had birds

17:54

of all shapes and sizes

17:56

and my husband

17:58

came back from his shooting one day

18:01

he was very busy as a movie

18:03

star , came back and he said you know , amala

18:05

, the house has

18:07

become like a zoo . I

18:09

think you need to plan it better

18:11

and do it for the entire city . Why

18:14

don't you do it ? It shows that this

18:16

is a need for the city . It was

18:18

his idea . He put

18:20

the seed in my head and I

18:22

took all the love I had for animals

18:24

and , together with the

18:26

seed and the love , we created Blue

18:28

Cross of Hyderabad . That's

18:31

how it started .

18:32

Wow , and it must

18:34

have been like a really , really big

18:37

achievement .

18:40

It was just the idea , if I may

18:42

say so . From then the hard

18:44

work started , and it was a very

18:46

hard work , vedant . It

18:49

was probably the most difficult

18:51

thing I ever did . Acting

18:53

was easy . Acting

18:56

was very easy . I tell

18:58

you , the real work

19:01

started when I had to start

19:04

Blue Cross , when I took it up

19:06

, but I think it's because I was doing

19:08

it for a cause greater than myself

19:10

. Nothing would stop

19:13

me . It doesn't matter how difficult

19:15

it was , it doesn't matter how

19:19

challenging it was to convince

19:21

people or to take

19:23

all the criticism

19:26

and abuse that I got and the

19:29

sheer hard work of

19:31

rescuing thousands and thousands

19:33

and thousands of animals , never

19:36

ending it was . It was

19:38

tough and I

19:40

had to get even tougher and

19:42

I had to really

19:44

become strong and courageous

19:47

inside and outside , but

19:49

it was all worth it .

19:54

And I've been to the shelter Blue

19:56

Cross and it's amazing . I really , really

19:58

, I really loved it . There

20:00

was animals everywhere and

20:02

it's so nice that you

20:05

started helping all of

20:07

the injured animals , because

20:09

I see when , even

20:12

when I was coming here , there were just

20:14

stray dogs and cats walking

20:16

the streets and at any moment a

20:18

car or bus or lorry could hit

20:20

it . Thank you , vedant

20:23

. And now there's a place for

20:25

the animals to go to get better

20:27

. And

20:31

can you tell me more about the annual

20:33

birth control program and also its

20:35

importance ?

20:37

Okay , so what do you

20:39

know about it ?

20:42

Something like preventing

20:44

dogs or cats

20:46

for having too many

20:49

babies and overpopulation

20:51

of the species , absolutely

20:53

.

20:54

So in India , as in a

20:56

number of developing

20:58

nations , there is

21:00

a lot of garbage that is externally

21:03

disposed . Unlike

21:05

Singapore , singapore is so clean

21:08

. Everything just disappears magically

21:10

in the night , and

21:12

in India it doesn't disappear magically

21:15

. But I mean we have a very

21:17

good municipal cleaning program

21:19

where they do come and collect the garbage

21:22

. But other

21:24

than that there are a lot of communities

21:27

where they just throw the garbage , eateries

21:31

, they just throw the garbage , and

21:33

because of this massive

21:35

amount of garbage and

21:37

food waste being thrown , naturally

21:41

it attracts an astray animals

21:43

. It's like inviting them

21:45

to a biryani party , yeah

21:47

, saying come , come , come , we've got lots of food

21:50

for you . So these stray

21:52

animals gather , they congregate

21:54

, they eat and they breed

21:56

. They say nature abhors

21:58

a vacuum . So where there is

22:01

food and there is space available

22:03

, some creature

22:05

will thrive , nature

22:08

will thrive . So nature has sent

22:10

the dog wherever the human

22:12

being is and because

22:14

of the garbage the dog thrives Right

22:18

In this process . Naturally

22:21

dog management has

22:24

to be part and parcel of it

22:26

. So you have garbage management

22:28

and you have dog management . So

22:31

every city in India . There are

22:33

some laws now in place where

22:35

the municipal corporation

22:37

or the municipal authorities have

22:40

to partner with the local animal

22:42

welfare groups and they need to

22:44

implement dog management along

22:47

with garbage management , with

22:49

the garbage clearance Right and

22:52

along with that . That's how the ABC

22:54

program was formed . Abc

22:56

is it's as easy as ABC

22:58

animal birth control

23:01

. The

23:03

government have very strict rules

23:05

on how it's supposed to be done , because

23:08

not everybody is equipped to deal

23:10

with stray animals and if something

23:12

goes wrong , stray animals can't ask

23:15

for help Right . So

23:17

that's where the animal welfare group

23:19

plays a very strong role

23:21

to make sure about the welfare

23:24

standards of the animal birth control

23:26

program , to make sure that

23:28

the catching of the dogs is done in a

23:30

very humane manner and that

23:32

the surgeons are highly trained

23:34

, because in four days of

23:36

the dog being caught , neutered

23:39

and vaccinated , the

23:41

dog has to be released back in

23:43

its place . And this

23:45

is the program . About five

23:47

years ago we

23:50

realized that the dog population

23:52

was just growing and growing and growing

23:54

and there were more and more

23:56

parts of the city . The

23:58

city was growing and extending

24:01

and including new

24:03

parts and new

24:05

dog populations and new garbage

24:08

to deal with . So we realized

24:10

that somebody had to work very hard

24:12

just to do the dog management Right

24:15

. And if you want

24:17

to work hard and do something

24:20

, you have to give up something else

24:22

. You can't do a little

24:24

bit of this and that and that and that and

24:26

that and that and be effective , right

24:29

. So it's like when

24:31

I became an actor , I

24:34

gave up dancing because I realized

24:36

I had to focus and do one thing . When

24:38

I started animal welfare , I

24:40

gave up acting and I gave up dancing

24:43

. And when I started doing

24:46

the animal birth control , I

24:48

had to give up several

24:51

other areas which were taking

24:53

up all the shelter space

24:55

and all the budget we

24:57

could raise and all our

24:59

time and energy , and

25:01

it wasn't helping . It wasn't helping

25:04

anyone . So we stopped all

25:06

of that and we shut down

25:08

everything and we shifted

25:10

only to sterilizing

25:13

street dogs

25:15

and cats . Within one

25:17

year there was an

25:20

enormous drop in the number of puppies

25:22

, there was a huge

25:24

drop in the number of road accidents

25:27

and there was an even

25:29

larger drop in

25:31

the number of cases of Parvovirus

25:35

distemper and other canine

25:37

diseases that come with unhealthy

25:40

dog populations . That's

25:42

only because we started

25:44

focusing on neutering

25:46

and vaccinating , and when we vaccinate

25:49

, we vaccinate for all the canine

25:51

diseases as well as rabies

25:53

.

25:55

Wow , congratulations . Thank

25:57

you . And in Hyderabad

26:00

is Blue Cross the only

26:02

shelter , or are there any more

26:04

?

26:06

I think there are almost 28

26:08

groups of animal

26:11

welfare people in Hyderabad

26:13

. Although the shelters

26:15

may be five or six

26:18

shelters , I haven't been

26:21

to them all but I do know

26:23

that a large number of young people

26:25

want to start up

26:27

new places and are looking for

26:29

spaces to collaborate with . I

26:32

met this young man Devan

26:35

was his name and when he

26:37

was in engineering college

26:39

he was studying aeronautical engineering

26:41

he had convinced

26:44

his engineering college to

26:46

give him space where he started

26:48

kennels for abandoned dogs . It

26:51

was quite remarkable . So there are lots

26:54

of young people like that , collaborating

26:56

with small spaces that they can find

26:58

to help the localised animals

27:02

they find locally .

27:06

And what are a few things my listeners

27:09

can do to help animals and support

27:11

Blue Cross .

27:16

You could definitely visit

27:18

your local animal shelter and

27:21

see how you can help them , because

27:24

there is a great

27:27

need for people

27:29

to understand how to coexist with animals

27:31

. Visiting an animal

27:33

shelter gives you that opportunity to

27:35

know how to be around animals

27:37

and how to support

27:39

them . If you can't

27:41

adopt , I mean it will be wonderful

27:44

to adopt a homeless animal . But

27:46

in case you are living in a small apartment

27:49

or your parents are very busy travelling

27:51

and you go to school all day and you don't have

27:53

the time to adopt , at least you can

27:55

go to a shelter and you can walk the shelter

27:58

dogs , help

28:01

the shelter and improve the quality

28:03

of life of the shelter dogs . Never

28:06

, ever , take pictures

28:09

with exotic wildlife . I

28:11

mean there is a lot

28:14

of cruelty in the world today with people

28:16

being fascinated to take pictures

28:18

with wildlife and that

28:21

causes a lot of trauma and anxiety

28:24

and those animals are kept

28:26

in captivity and it's

28:28

quite a miserable life they lead

28:31

for that one photograph

28:33

. There

28:35

are many , many ways to help animals

28:37

, but your first starts with

28:40

a visit to a shelter . Our shelter

28:42

has a special program

28:45

for children and on Saturdays

28:47

, if you visit our shelter , we

28:50

give a nice presentation

28:52

on all the ways children can

28:54

help animals and

28:57

it starts with a tour

28:59

of the shelter , knowing all the different

29:01

animals and the issues that they

29:03

face . What

29:05

time does it start ? It

29:08

starts around 10 , between

29:10

10 and 11 am .

29:13

Okay , wonderful . Moving

29:15

on to Anipurna College , can

29:17

you share a little about what

29:20

the college does and also

29:22

your role here , sure ?

29:25

So my father-in-law was a legendary

29:27

actor , akineni Nageshwar

29:30

Rao . He was one

29:32

of the early pioneers of the Telugu

29:35

film industry

29:37

to set up the studio

29:40

in Hyderabad and bring

29:42

the Telugu cinema from Chennai

29:44

to Hyderabad . Until then , chennai

29:47

was the hub of making films and

29:49

my father-in-law and many pioneers

29:51

with him at that time brought

29:54

the industry to Telangana

29:59

. The then Andhra

30:01

Pradesh , which was the two

30:03

states of Telangana were one at the time

30:05

Telugu speaking

30:08

states . The

30:12

studio was built about 45

30:15

years ago and

30:17

it was his dream . After he built

30:19

the studio and he had his entire

30:21

family working to make films in

30:23

the studio , his dream was

30:25

to set up an

30:28

institution where they could

30:30

educate filmmakers

30:32

for the future . So it's not

30:34

enough just to make films , but

30:36

you must learn how to make films

30:38

, and that's how Anipurna

30:41

College of Film and Media started . It

30:43

is 12 years now and

30:46

, as

30:48

my father-in-law passed away some years

30:50

ago , my family requested

30:53

me after his passing to take

30:55

on the responsibility of looking after

30:57

the film and media college . So

31:00

here I am , the director , and

31:03

we have 250 students

31:05

in different

31:07

degree programs learning filmmaking

31:09

. There's a bachelor's degree

31:12

. There's a bachelor's degree in animation

31:14

and visual effects as well . There's

31:16

a bachelor's degree in filmmaking . There's

31:19

a master's degree in filmmaking and

31:21

there are lots of short courses in all

31:23

the different crafts of cinema

31:26

, of filmmaking , and

31:28

even in acting there's a

31:30

certificate course , an intensive course

31:32

of 5 months . We

31:35

have young people here finding

31:38

their way and learning how to make films

31:40

. When you came

31:42

in , we were watching a mini series

31:44

a set of students

31:47

have made . It was an 8 episode

31:49

series that they've made and

31:52

it's about a ghost . So

31:55

we were sitting here enjoying it and

31:58

they were getting some feedback from the faculty

32:00

and this

32:02

would be an exam for them . So they'll

32:04

be getting their marks based on how

32:07

the whether they've been able

32:09

to apply everything they've learned

32:11

from their teachers and their faculty

32:14

during that course , how they've applied

32:16

it when making the mini series

32:19

.

32:19

Yeah , is it on animated series

32:22

?

32:23

No , it's a filmed one . They've

32:25

got actors and they shot it in

32:28

various parts of the studio . They'll

32:30

be going on now to their final semester

32:33

, where they'll make their graduation film

32:35

.

32:35

So that's

32:38

nice . Maybe

32:40

I can come here and

32:42

try to learn here sometime

32:44

.

32:44

Oh , you're most welcome If that's

32:46

interesting for you . I can see

32:49

it's . You're already comfortable

32:51

with sound , right ? So

32:54

every film , that

32:56

doesn't matter how short and how

32:58

long , requires a soundtrack

33:01

. And the soundtrack

33:03

, if it's the more

33:05

powerful or the more sensitive

33:07

it is , the better the emotion

33:09

of the scene , right ? So

33:12

from the cameras hidden in the actors'

33:14

clothing and the set

33:17

to capturing it when they

33:19

shoot , and then they have to clean it

33:21

up on the console and

33:24

then they add the sound effects and

33:27

then they add the music , and then they

33:29

layer the whole thing and mix it

33:31

, and then you get this beautiful

33:33

soundtrack which just elevates

33:35

the whole film or the episode

33:38

to another level . But it needs

33:40

somebody with a very good year

33:42

for sound , right ? So

33:46

that's what you do with the sound . And then

33:48

, of course , you have the writers . If

33:50

you're a writer , you're interested in reading

33:52

and you're a thinker

33:54

, then you would write

33:57

and you would direct the

33:59

episode , and direction

34:01

is also a very exciting thing . Writing

34:04

is an art and a craft by

34:06

itself . Or you have

34:08

an interest in cameras and visual

34:10

storytelling . Then you'd be a cinematographer

34:13

and you learn all . You

34:15

become the camera , so your

34:18

eyes become the camera and you understand

34:20

how to move around and tell

34:22

the story in the most exciting

34:25

way right , visual

34:27

storytelling and you understand

34:30

the colors and the spaces

34:32

and how to use those spaces to tell

34:35

your story and bring that script

34:37

alive . After

34:39

they film it then comes the editor

34:41

. And the editor is like another director

34:43

or another storyteller , because

34:46

they cut it up and they arrange

34:48

the whole thing in a way that becomes really

34:51

more interesting , like

34:53

when do you reveal to the audience

34:56

that who done it or

34:58

what's happening around

35:00

the corner ? Am I going to tell you who's waiting

35:02

there ? Stop , I'll

35:05

tell you next episode . And

35:09

then , of course , you have the production

35:11

, the producer , the production

35:13

team , because they have to arrange everything

35:15

and they're very good

35:18

organizers , they're very good schedulers

35:21

, they think how to market

35:23

it . Who is our audience ? How

35:25

am I going to raise the budget ? How am I going

35:27

to get things at the least

35:29

cost so that I don't spend all

35:31

the money on things

35:33

that I can't afford ? And they

35:36

control everybody with the budget

35:38

. And then they finally take it . They

35:40

know how to advertise it and do their

35:42

social media campaign to

35:44

get the film or the content

35:46

out there . So these are all the main

35:49

crafts , but there's a

35:51

lot more . You learn the history

35:53

of cinema . You learn film studies

35:55

. You learn media laws , because

35:58

media laws are very strict now and

36:00

you have to learn so many different things . You

36:03

learn a bit of documentary and

36:06

you learn environmental

36:09

science and the environmental science

36:12

stories you tell through documentary

36:14

. And you learn psychology psychology

36:17

how the audience psychology and

36:19

the storyteller psychology and the

36:21

young person psychology to

36:23

be happy inside and outside

36:25

.

36:30

And do you have any tips you

36:33

can share for students who are interested

36:35

in our career in film and media

36:37

?

36:40

It's a great time to think about

36:42

it because it's one

36:44

of the industries that are growing at

36:47

22% . That is growing at 22%

36:50

, so there are

36:53

huge opportunities opening

36:55

up . But , having

36:57

said that , you

36:59

have to come with an

37:01

education . So

37:03

the opportunities are there , but the training

37:06

is very tough . You have to go

37:08

through the training and the craft

37:10

and all of that because

37:12

it's heavily technology based

37:14

. You can't just show up and know

37:16

how to use the equipment . You can't

37:18

just show up and expect somebody to let

37:21

you use their equipment . It

37:23

takes a lot of training and skills with

37:25

that . Even

37:27

if you train , it requires

37:30

the attitude

37:32

of an Olympic sports

37:34

person . And I say Olympics

37:37

because making

37:40

a film is like the Olympics

37:43

. It's the most difficult

37:45

thing you would have done . I

37:50

didn't say it was acting . Acting was

37:52

easy . Animal

37:56

welfare was difficult for me but

37:59

I kept going because I loved

38:01

the animals and then it

38:03

was worth it . Every difficulty

38:05

I faced was worth it and made

38:07

me just do

38:10

my best In

38:12

cinema , in filmmaking , it's tough

38:15

because out of nothing

38:17

you have to create a dream and

38:19

you have to not just tell a story

38:22

that gives hope and engages

38:24

your audience and

38:26

garner everybody's attention

38:29

. You

38:31

have to make it all seem real . And

38:35

it's tough , it's not easy , it's challenging

38:38

, and to wake up every

38:40

day and do that kind of challenging

38:42

work takes an Olympian spirit

38:45

. So you need to be very hardworking

38:48

, you need to be very passionate

38:50

about telling stories and you

38:52

need to have a good way with technology

38:54

, you know ? And if

38:57

you have these three things , then

38:59

film is for you .

39:02

Yeah well , film

39:05

sounds really fun , Like

39:08

it might be a really really hard thing

39:10

to do , but the end thing

39:12

is amazing , because I've

39:14

watched quite a few movies

39:16

and it's always amazing

39:19

and the

39:21

amount of hard work they've done to make it

39:23

is all worth it , because it's

39:26

just a piece of art Really

39:28

.

39:29

Really Well said . Well said , vedan

39:31

. Thank you , thank you .

39:35

I really , really enjoyed talking

39:37

to you today . Thank you so

39:39

much for coming on this show . I really really

39:42

enjoyed speaking to you . I learned

39:44

a lot from it .

39:46

Thank you , vedan . I've enjoyed sharing

39:48

what little I know about

39:50

animal welfare and

39:52

cinema and acting and

39:54

growing up , and I

39:56

wish you and your listeners

39:58

you have a wonderful

40:01

2024 . There are exciting

40:04

things happening around the world and

40:06

there are difficult things happening around

40:08

the world . As much as there

40:10

is opportunity

40:12

, there's also a lot of suffering , and

40:15

I hope your podcast will give

40:17

will share , hope

40:19

and guidance for young

40:21

people across the world .

40:23

Thank you , thank you so much . Thank

40:26

you , vedan . Thank you All the very best

40:28

. Thank you , and

40:59

don't forget to rate and leave comments

41:01

.