A documentary film titled “India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satyanarayana” produced and directed by Chilkuri Sushil Rao was screened during the 4^th Nadi Utsav in Delhi on September 23.

 The three-day programme from September 22-24 was organised by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (INGCA), Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Films on preservation of rivers and environment made by filmmakers from different parts of the country were screened during the festival.

On the occasion, 69-year-old Dusharla Satyanarayana about whom “India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satayanarayana” was made was honoured on the occasion. The documentary film is about how Dusharla raised a forest on 70-acre of his ancestral land in Raghavapuram near Suryapet in Telangana and has been preserved it for more than 60 years now.

At the inauguration of the 4th Nadi Utsav, National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairman Justice Prakash Srivastava spoke about the importance of rivers for sustaining life.

 

“ఇండియాస్ గ్రీన్‌హార్ట్ దుశర్ల సత్యనారాయణ” కు ఢిల్లీలో గౌరవం

హైదరాబాద్: దిల్లీలో సెప్టెంబర్ 23న జరిగిన 4వ నది ఉత్సవ్‌లో చిల్కూరి సుశీల్‌రావు నిర్మించి దర్శకత్వం వహించిన “ఇండియాస్ గ్రీన్‌హార్ట్ దుశర్ల సత్యనారాయణ” అనే డాక్యుమెంటరీ చిత్రాన్ని ప్రదర్శించారు.

సెప్టెంబర్ 22-24 వరకు మూడు రోజులపాటు ఇందిరా గాంధీ నేషనల్ సెంటర్ ఫర్ ది ఆర్ట్స్ (IGNCA), సాంస్కృతిక మంత్రిత్వ శాఖ, భారత ప్రభుత్వం నిర్వహించింది.

దేశంలోని వివిధ ప్రాంతాలకు చెందిన సినీ నిర్మాతలు నదులు, పర్యావరణ పరిరక్షణపై రూపొందించిన చిత్రాలను ప్రదర్శించారు.

ఈ సందర్భంగా 69 ఏళ్ల దుశర్ల సత్యనారాయణను ఈ సందర్భంగా సన్మానించారు. తెలంగాణలోని సూర్యాపేట సమీపంలోని రాఘవపురంలో తన పూర్వీకుల భూమిలో 70 ఎకరాల్లో దుశర్ల అడవిని ఎలా పెంచాడు మరియు దానిని 60 ఏళ్లకు పైగా ఎలా సంరక్షిస్తున్నారు అనేదే డాక్యుమెంటరీ చిత్రం.

4వ నాడి ఉత్సవ్ ప్రారంభోత్సవంలో, నేషనల్ గ్రీన్ ట్రిబ్యునల్ (NGT) చైర్మన్ జస్టిస్ ప్రకాష్ శ్రీవాస్తవ జీవనం కోసం నదుల ప్రాముఖ్యత గురించి మాట్లాడారు.

 

 A documentary film titled “India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satyanarayana” about 69-year-old Dusharla Satyanarayana, an  environmentalist from Suryapet in Telangana will be screened in Delhi. The documentary screening will also be followed by a discussion.

The produced and directed by Hyderabad-based Chilkuri Sushil Rao will be screened at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Ministry of Culture, Government of India during the 4^th Nadi Utsav being held from September 22-24 at INGCA, Janpath building, New Delhi.

During the three-days, 15 documentaries made by filmmakers from across the country will be screened.

As part of the Nadi Utsav, a national seminar on ‘Thanking the river: Revitalizing the harmony between human and river life’ will be held.

This seminar aims to provide a platform to scholars, academicians, researchers and relevant stakeholders to deliberate and discuss the relevance of rivers and water bodies for all forms of life. The seminar also has an objective to redefine the very notion of sustainable development, with special reference to the Riverine culture.

The documentary “India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satyanarayana” is about Dusharla Satyanarayana, a nature lover and environmentalist who has created a forest on his 70 acre of ancestral land at Raghavapuram near Suryapet town in Telangana, India. He started developing the forest more than six decades ago and preserves it. He fell in love with nature when he was a child and has demonstrated that with resolve and interest one can actually raise an entire forest. 

Satyanarayana is well-known in the country for bringing to the notice of the authorities for providing clean and potable drinking water to the people of Nalgonda district who were suffering because of fluoride. In his forest, he maintains a lake where lotuses bloom providing a magnificent sight. Government officials, environmentalists, bird watchers and green warriors visit the very well-preserved forest in all its glory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Views expressed are personal)

Kalvakuntala Chandrasekhar Rao has a weakness that only he can boast of. The man revels in looking at the mirror and say: “I dare. I dare you.”

If the 69-year-old he hates anything, it is being a pale shadow of himself. No, he does not boxing in the dark. Nor pulling punches in the air. He loves playing his lofty shots in a packed stadium. He has a weakness for challenges.

Accepting a gauntlet thrown at him is something he comfortably likes to ignore. It’s not his cup of tea. He’s not that type anymore to be provoked into retaliation. Of course, there were times when his bruised ego would make him dare the challenger only to beat a political opponent to pulp at the hustings. Point proved, he moves on.

Now, the chief minister of Telangana has done something only he could have imagined in his wildest dreams. If he’s got to be a nightmare for his political opponent, he believes that only he should set  the rules. He is convinced that he’s the one to decide the turf. He is more than sure about how to make mincemeat of those who bay for his blood. Not that he did not suffer bruisers on some such encounters before but he regains his poise not to end up a battle fatality.

On August 21, 2023, KCR, the President of the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) could have easily chided himself and said: “Stop giggling.” That’s because KCR perhaps would have been doing just that as he released a list of candidates from his party for the ensuing assembly elections in Telangana. The fact that he announced the candidates list more than 100 days before the polls are to be held is noteworthy.

It was on December 7, 2018 that the assembly polls were held in Telangana. Going by the presumption that the polling date would be the same this time, it means that he announced his party nominees 109 days in advance. Out of the 119 seats, he announced the names for 115 seats. He dropped seven sitting legislators.

KCR is challenged by his own weakness for springing a surprise. When he had a full nine more months to complete his term as chief minister after the newly formed Telangana state got its first elected government in 2014,  his government resigned. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as it was then called, did not complete its first five year term only because the independent thinking KCR who calls the shots in the party had a strategic reason. He was averse to the Lok Sabha polls and assembly polls being held simultaneously and therefore got the assembly polls advanced. The Lok Sabha polls were held in April 2019.

Is KCR crafty? Call him a craftsman. A politician who knows his tools.

Is he wily? Call him a willing slave to his own fancies.

Is it a folly to announce the names of his party nominees when elections are, of course, round the corner, but not in sight as the Election Commission is yet to issue a notification for the polls?

What can the possible repercussions be?

Disappointed ticket-seekers may well go against the party.

Dropped legislators will have an axe to grind (if they have not been placated already with some position in the future).

Rival political parties can harvest the disenchantment in the ruling party and exploit it to woo leaders and cadre whose dreams may have fallen flat.

From the way he spoke at the press conference that he addressed on August 21, the battle-hardened politician who has been in public life for more than 40 years, thinks it is a cakewalk for him to form the government for the third time in a row.

Having led the movement for a separate Telangana state which became a reality in 2014, KCR who has served as chief minister since then, has now thrown a challenge at the rival parties, the Congress and the BJP mainly to evolve their own strategies to counter his moves.

The game is wide open.

KCR has a weakness.

 A weakness for success.

He will give it all what it takes to earn his own praise for himself.

 https://youtube.com/shorts/R7z55l5TIpY?feature=share

A Telugu music video from the documentary "Jai Ho! Mithrama" won the "Certificate of Excellence" at the 12th Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival held on July 30, 2023. The song “Wangamarthy Maa Ooru” is sung by Chilkuri Sushil Rao. The lyrics were also penned by Chilkuri Sushil Rao and music provided by Beno Joseph Malogi of Kraftsmen media.

Another version of the music video which was also screened in Bengaluru as part of the 12^th Bangalore Shorts Film Festival-2023 on June 30 received a ‘Certificate of Excellence’ at this film festival also.

One version of the Telugu song was picturised in Hollywood with Samuel Stanley Jones Chilkuri. Rufus Simon of Los Angeles, California is the director of photography for the Hollywood version.

The one-hour documentary “Jai Ho! Mithrama” is on the life of Chilkuri Samuel from Wangamarthy village in Nalgonda district of Telangana. The documentary was produced and directed by Chilkuri Sushil Rao in connection with the 100^th birth anniversary of his father Chilkuri Samuel.

The song “Wangamarthy Maa Ooru” was picturised in Hollywood to also coincide with the centenary of the Hollywood Sign which was put up in 1923.

Those who featured in the music videos picturised at difference places include Chilkuri Shyam Rao, Chilkuri Sheethal Sidhoora, Jordan and Zoey in Pennsylvania, US,  Chilkuri Vasanth Rao in Bengaluru, Chilkuri Sushil Rao in Hyderabad, Samuel Stanley Jones Chilkuri in Hollywood, US, Parimala Chilkuri in Wangamarthy, and Nishan Sampreeth Chilkuri in London, UK.

Elijah Emmanuel of Kraftsmen media where the song was recorded is the cinematographer and editor of the song picturised on Chilkuri Sushil Rao.

The documentary “Jai Ho! Mithrama” on the life of Chilkuri Samuel who served in the British-Indian Army, was screened at Wangamarthy village in Nalgonda district on June 18. It was also screened at UTC, Bengaluru on June 28 this year.

The documentary was also sent as an entry for the Festival de Cannes in 2023. The music video was also sent as an entry for the Cannes World Film Festival, France.

                                                Documentary filmmaker Chilkuri Sushil Rao

 

Samuel Stanley Jones Chilkuri in Hollywood who featured in the music video "Jai Ho! Mithrama" filmed in Hollywood

 

“Nenu NTR matladuthunna brother (This is NTR speaking),” the voice at the other end informed me. 

It was him.  The phone had rung and I picked it up. I’d stayed back late at office on December 31, 1994 and this call came on the direct line. When NTR identified himself on the phone, I was surprised.

I was sure it was him but the call from chief minister Nandamuri Tarakarama Rao came as a surprise.  NTR had come back to power in the 1994 elections with a big majority and had taken oath as chief minister for the third time on December 12, 1994. 

“Noothana Samvathsara Subhakanshalu,” NTR continued wishing me a happy new year. I wished him back. The conversation lasted for less than 30 seconds. That set me thinking for the next 30 minutes on why NTR chose to spring a surprise on an unsuspecting journalist to convey personal wishes.

NTR had not actually called to speak to me personally. He had simply called to wish whoever was available at that time in the office and it happened to be me in Deccan Chronicle where I was working at that time. There were no mobile phones then. The CM’s office had the direct number of the reporters and NTR chose to make a call himself. But before, he came on line there was a piece of quick information that the “CM wants to speak” by someone who had dialed the phone for him.

There were only a few newspapers then and N T Rama Rao had called up all the newspapers to wish everyone a happy new year 1995.

I’d known N T Rama Rao to be a man who could spring surprises all the time.  Some were intentional and others could be incidental because you wouldn’t expect them. 

One of my first assignments when I became a journalist was to cover a programme at the Mahavir Harina Vanasthali deer park near Vanasthalipuram in 1989. Chief Minister N T Rama Rao inaugurated a van for the public to go around the park. We sat at the function area where he was to come and address the gathering. The entire crowd comprising visitors, invitees and officials stood up as he arrived on stage.

The press gallery stayed put -   sitting as he waved to the crowd. It looked like NTR was surprised. Even angry. How could that motley group of people not rise when I am greeting them? The thought would have crossed NTR’s mind repeatedly. The gaze on the press gallery moved no one. 

Reporters are not the crowd. They rise only when the national anthem is played or sung and not when VVIPs take to the podium. That’s been the tradition, the culture and norm that has been preserved by the fourth estate till date. It isn’t just about NTR. It can be any CM, PM, or  President. No one is to applaud when a VVIP speaks. No one nods in agreement or disagreement. All one does is jot down notes of the speech.

This is what I did that day. But NTR  made no sense. Nonsense is a strong and objectionable word to use. He spoke. And spoke. His chaste Telugu could hardly be followed by anyone. There was no clarity in the delivery of his speech too. He was as if he was incoherent. But he was chief minister. And I, a reporter.

Not paying attention might result in a ‘major miss’ if he were to make any big announcement. I had my gaze fixed on him. Ears were glued to what he said. And at the end of it all, he still made no sense for me to go and write about what he spoke. I was working for Citizen’s Evening then.

I noticed the crowd raving about his speech. They lauded him. Applauded him. They shouted and screamed. The crowd and NTR were made for each other. There was hardly anything in NTR’s speech to report. You couldn’t carry all that repeated rhetoric in a newspaper.

Going to cover the chief minister and that too someone like NTR and not being able to report a thing about the event would only reflect on my own capability of deciphering the man.

With NTR you can expect the unexpected. That much was for sure. The interesting thing that happened there was something else that we did not get to see. At the deer park, NTR got into the driver’s seat in the van and drove around in the reserve forest in the path that had been created.

The van was also meant for  visitors to be taken around to see the deer, black bucks, peocock and birds in the park. NTR driving the vehicle was news for that time. He’d done many films including ‘Driver Ramudu’ and ‘Adavi Ramudu’ and here he was living up to his cinema titles! Needless to mention, we went with the headline with a play of words from these two film titles.

With NTR around, it could not have been a dull day and it wasn’t!

One day, at the chief minister’s office in the Secretariat, I happened to sit beside him when he spoke with reporters. The handful of journalists that we were covering the CMO could shoot questions at him and he would never be offended. The more aggressive the question, the more he would be at ease, smiling at the anger that he noticed in some senior journalists who were elder to him in age.

This particular day, the conversation continued for some more time after everyone had got up from their seats. I stood up too after NTR got up. Since another question was popped to him by someone, he stayed back to respond. And for the next few minutes he rested his right hand on my left shoulder as he spoke. That was heavy!

You went to the programmes that chief minister N T Rama Rao  attended also because he could spring a surprise doing something you would not imagine. He did it.

One day, much to everyone’s surprise he showed up at a function dressed in saffron and wearing a headgear as Swami Vivekananda. I rushed to the nearest house phone in a star hotel. I requested that I be connected to the phone line of my office.

Like on many other occasions, this too was not about what he would speak at the function. He’d already had his say with his attire and that was the news for the day. Later, I also found out that he had hurt himself on one of his feet but that was secondary. That day, in Vivekananda’s attire, NTR made news not just in AP but the media across the country could not help but take notice of a CM who always had something up his sleeve to keep the media engaged NTR was like a breath of fresh air. On the political horizon, he introduced colour - a colour that was himself. 

NTR could spring a surprise with his decisions too. The press corps of the Secretarariat was at its allotted room. It was noticed that civil liberties leader K G Kannabiran who came with other civil rights activists and some left parties had gone to meet the CM in his chamber in the adjacent building. 

No sooner, the telephone rang in the press room. It was a call from the CM’s office. N T Rama Rao had expressed a desire to speak to the media immediately. We walked over to his room. “I am announcing lifting of ban on naxalites,” he said. 

That was a surprise announcement. Naxalite violence had been a major concern. What also had been of concern was the encounter deaths of naxalites. Policemen too had been victims of naxalite violence. And here was NTR who had announced a lifting of the ban on naxalites. 

From what was gathered then, the CM had consulted no one on taking that major decision. He did not consult his cabinet colleagues nor did his officials have any role in the unilateral decision that he took. How would a CM take such important decisions on the spur of the moment?

 

It turned out later that officials counselled N T Rama Rao on what repercussions the decision he took and announced would have. His secretary at that time Jaya Prakash Narayan had a word with him. By evening, it was informed to the media that there was a revision in the decision. The ban was lifted partially and with a lot of conditions. NTR could have had his way as chief minister but this instance showed that he could also be advised against any hasty decision. What mattered most was that he should be convinced. 

Senior journalist Chilkuri Sushil Rao has been honoured with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ (Jeevana Saphalya Puraskaram). The award was presented to him by former Speaker S Madhusudana Chary at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad on April 20 at the awards presentation ceremony organised by Sealwel Corporation and Shrutilaya Arts Academy, Hyderabad. 

The 55-year-old Sushil Rao has been a journalist for the last 35 years. Since 1988, he has worked for different newspapers, including Deccan Chronicle. He was among the first television journalists when private television channels were launched in India. In 1995-96, he was an anchor for a programme titled ‘Business Time’ presented on Gemini TV.

Sushil Rao is also among the first journalists to write for a news website. He wrote for Rediff-on-the-net news website in 1997.

Sushil Rao is  currently Editor-Special Reports, The Times of India, Hyderabad. He was part of the launch team of The Times of India, Hyderabad edition in the year 2000. 

Former speaker and MLC Madhusudana Chary recalled at the awards function that when he decided to be in public service, he considered journalism as an option but entered politics. He appreciated the efforts of journalists who serve the society.

Sealwel Corporation MD, Bandaru Subba Rao, Shruthilaya Arts chairman Bokka Bhim Reddy, Awards committee chairman Mohammed Rafi, Telangana Police Housing Corporation chairman Koleti Damodar, Aadarsha Foundation founder Kusuma Bhogaraju and others felicitated Chilkuri Sushil Rao at the awards presentation ceremony held under the banner of Department of Language and Culture, Government of India.  

NDTV Executive Editor Uma Sudhir was also presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Journalists and anchors from print and television were also honoured on the occasion. 

 

I have been awarded a Certificate by the Maulana Azad National Urdu University for attending a workshop on “Documentary Film Making”. 

 The Instructional Media Centre, MANUU in association with Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IPDA), Mumbai conducted the workshop on ‘Documentary Film Making’ from March 16-18, 2023.

Mohammed Mujahid Ali, Producer-1, IMC was the workshop convenor and Rizwan Ahmed, Director, IMC was the workshop director.

The certificates were presented by MANUU Vice-Chancellor Syed Ainul Hasan at the ceremony attended by Ishtiaque Ahmed, Registrar on March 18, 2023.

The resource persons for the workshop were Sanskar Desai, Filmmaker, script writer and President of Indian Documentary Producers Association, Kamlesh K Mishra, award winning writer-director, and documentary filmmaker Santosh Pathare.

The topics covered during the workshop included:

Introduction to documentaries.

Types of documentaries and genres.

How to conceptualize a documentary.

Importance of Research and types of research.

How to create a documentary/story.

Biographical documentaries.

Acting and interacting with other actors.

How to make a documentary on a living person and a documentary on a person who is no more.

How to make a documentary when subject is inanimate object or a Concept.

Creating a visual story.

Editing and background music.

The use of voice over.

Overall making of a documentary.

Permissions and Marketing of films.