'Pindam' Has Some 50 Scenes That Makes You Scared: Yeshwanth Daggumati

Talented actor Sriram who is well-known to the audience is coming up with a movie titled 'Pindam'. Kushee Ravi is the female lead in this project and the teaser and trailer impressed the horror lovers. Directed by a debutant Saikiran Daida, 'Pindam' is produced under Kalaahi Media by Yeshwanth Daggumati. The movie is releasing on 15th December and the film's producer Yeshwanth spoke about his life before films and how he entered this industry and what went into making this movie.

Talking about his life before becoming a producer, he said, "I own a chain of software companies in the USA. With the urge of venturing into filmmaking, I returned to India along with my friend Saikiran Daida. However, we happened to stumble upon this story Pindam rather than producing our own story which we earlier decided. Hearing the title Pindam, I was perplexed the same way as others. If a soul has to take birth, it has to enter into a pindam. And Pindam is offered when a person vacates a body. People may have different perceptions about the terms and theories revolving around it. But I felt intrigued by its storyline. Director Saikiran wrote the story within a week. Storyboarding was done within 10 days. The entire cast was finalised within no time. And when I went on to the sets in June."

He revealed he was supposed to have Siddu Jonnalagadda as the hero. He stated, "It was a crime comedy. But the lockdown gave a heavy jolt to the plan. Everything had gone haywire. The visas and other formalities were cumbersome so we held the project back. Kona Venkat was also the co-producer of the film. Now we came with Pindam. It is a multi-genre film. It has a message with elements of horror stretching to the timelines of 1930 to 1991 to 2023." He added that running an IT company is the same as making a film as it is all about managing people. He added, "After writing the story, we have a few names for the casting director. Sriram's name was new and audiences haven't seen him in Telugu for the past a few years. Director thought Sriram would fit the bill so we selected him. The director has earlier made a Hollywood film starring the local artistes in the USA. The film titled 'Smoke' won second prize in a film festival contest."

Talking more about the movie, he said, "Usually, if you want to scare audiences with a horror film. It has to be a story that delves on a proper background, there would be a backstory for every story. And you make best possible climax for a horror tale to frighten the audience. But in Pindam, from the word go, there are some 50 scenes that make viewers scared every 10 minutes. I think this is the first time a horror film has so many frightening scenes." He added, "Pindam is the apt title for the story. I want to establish our production with a realistic touch. I am not here to make a film and jet off to the US. I have 10 more scripts to get onto the sets."

He spoke highly about his team. He said, "I have a strong support team. Mainly my manager Suresh, next our casting director, next is our Assistant Directors. Without all their support, I wouldn't have executed it well. When my cashier could not make it in one day, I distributed the payments in the end. The technicians or the lightboys or the junior artistes had to come from Krishna Nagar to Ramoji Film City at 6 in the morning. Imagine how painful it is to get up early in the morning and come to the sets on time which is two hours far from your home. And they earn a paltry Rs 1,000 at the end of the day. I felt sad and helpless. I couldn't do anything, but things have to move forward. I treated them as my own team."

He even said, "Actually, I felt how challenging it would if I had to go for my own release. But after watching the trailer, many distributors have come. We picked the best with a good rate. For digital release, we're in talks with a couple of them. OTT is almost finalised." Talking about practical challenges while making this film, he revealed, "One day, we're shooting in a remote location where you cannot see a house in plain sight. Seven years kids are playing on a terrace at midnight after 12. It happened to be a Sunday Amavasya. One of the mothers was worried about her girl and asked us to take her child with her. However, we convinced her by applying tilak from a nearby temple. That night, we underwent a terrible mess. My manager Suresh broke his leg. A person suffered seizures. Eashwari garu got hurt on the face when a doll slipped out of Sriram's hand. That was a horrible night. Yet we managed to complete the shoot."