Noted authors Sangishetty Srinivas and Mercy Margaret were honoured with a “Certificate of Appreciation and Recognition” by the alumni of University College of Arts and Social Sciences, Osmania University, Hyderabad. 

The certificate to Sangishetty Srinivas was presented in the presence of writer and historian Dr Anand Raj Varma, former principal, Anwar Ul Uloom college who was a student of OU in 1958, and Veda Kumar Manikonda, heritage activist and  chairman of Forum for a Better Hyderabad and Chilkuri Sushil Rao, alumni of OU. 

Chilkuri Sushil Rao awarded a ‘Certificate of excellence’ at the 11^th Mumbai Shorts International Film Festival.

The recognition was for the entry of a short documentary titled “The Great Indian Tamarind Tree”.  “El peso de la quietud’ made by Manuel Ojeda of Cuba was adjudged best documentary film. ‘Kara – Star of the world’ directed by Daniel Mark Bendell of the US was given the Best documentary (Jury) award.

The film festival was held in Mumbai on December 11, 2022. I would not attend the festival in person. All the entries in various categories were screened at the film festival.

It was a small recognition as my entry was accepted to be screened at the festival for which I was given a ‘Certificate of excellence’. I dedicate this first small recognition to noted filmmaker B Narsing Rao. I went to his house in Hyderabad and expressed my thanks and gratitude.

My thanks and gratitude to B Narsing Rao because the very first film that I watched in my life was ‘Maa Bhoomi’ that was produced by him and released in the year 1979. What is significant is that it was the only movie that my father took me to watch. My mother, father and I watched it at Rahat Mahal theatre (later renamed as Raja deluxe) at Musheerabad, Hyderabad. The film was directed by Goutam Ghose. I had the privilege of watching the film with the director in Hyderabad during the inauguration of an international film festival at the Lalitha Kala Thoranam.

In addition to ‘Maa Bhoomi’, Narsing Rao’s films ‘Daasi’, ‘Maa Ooru’, ‘Rangula Kala’ and documentaries 'The Carnival’, ‘The City’ and ‘Akruti – Rock formations’ have received international recognition.

“Dedicating the ‘Certificate of excellence’ to B Narsing Rao was something satisfying. He stands as a tall figure as a filmmaker on the global circuit. Every work of his shows his artistic calibre. Meeting him and dedicating the award to him has only given me more inspiration to approach a subject in a way that it is presented as conceived,” Chilkuri Sushil Rao said.

B Narsing Rao wished Chilkuri Sushil Rao many more accolades.

Synopsis of the documentary: It was the year 1908. A cloud burst caused a deluge in Hyderabad. The Musi river overflowed. The tragedy was that on September 28 as many as 15,000 people lost their lives. In the midst of this, 150 were able to save their lives climbing a tree and clinging on to its branches. The  tree stands tall and strong at Afzalgunj in the old city in Hyderabad. Local groups and tree lovers visit the place and commemorate the event. The tree is said to be 200 years ago and is part of the history of the city which was founded in 1591 by Mohd Quli Qutb Shah.

Chilkuri Brothers performs Burrakatha, a Telangana traditional folk art form on Christmas day

Three Chilkuri Brothers who form the “Chilkuri Burrakatha Brundham” staged a Burrakatha performance on the Biblical story of “Samson and Delilah” at a programme held on Christmas day on December 25, 2022 in Hyderabad. The performance was given for an exclusive gathering at Kowkur near Bolarum.

Chilkuri Vasanth Rao was the main performer with his brothers Chilkuri Shyam Rao and Chilkuri Sushil Rao being co-performers.

It was in 1978 that the first performance was given by the folk artistes. The story of ‘Samson and Delilah’ was performed at more than 60 places during the initial years itself. The places include apart from several places in Hyderabad, at Medak, Sangareddy, Nalgonda, Kamareddy, Yellareddyguda,  Vizag, Vizianagaram, Kakinada.

“Recollecting the entire story was not so easy but once we got into the narration, the sequence of story fell in line,” Chilkuri Vasanth Rao said. During the early years of their performance, the Chilkuri Burrakatha Brundham received encouragement from the well-known Surabhi Theatre Group which used to provide costumes to the troupe.

The stories that were narrated through the folk art include the story of ‘Nehemiah’ also from the Bible. The performances used to be mainly given during ‘jatharas’ churches used to hold on special occasions.

Chilkuri Vasanth Rao holds a Ph D from Germany and is currently Principal of United Theological College, Bengaluru. His elder brother Chilkuri Shyam Rao is a leading advocate in Hyderabad and his younger brother Chilkuri Sushil Rao is a filmmaker and mediaperson.

While the three brothers have performed and recorded several Telangana Christian folk songs over the years, the Burrakatha performance was given after a long gap, mostly recollecting from memory what used to be performed more than 40 years ago.

                     Meeting Sesanka, the man who introduced me to the internet in 1997

We met after 25 years. Sesanka Pemmaraju works for the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, as Director, Information Technology. At his office room, I noticed a poster. It read: It’s about PEOPLE Not just Technology. This poster aptly defines Sesanka.

Let me use this space to mention something related. Comet Hale Bopp, described as the ‘The Great Comet of 1997’ was visible to the naked eye having faintly be seen and observed the previous year. It is said by scientists that the comet had previously made its appearance 4,200 years ago (source: Wikipedia).  The other details are technical with more scientific explanations but I am not going to delve more into it here. However, the comet had caught my fascination.

There was worldwide interest in the comet. I was working for Andhra Pradesh Times, a newly launched newspaper in Hyderabad at that time. With my fascination for space, I met Dr B G Siddharth, the director of Birla Science Centre. Dr Siddharth who headed the Birla Plantetarium was someone who everyone would flock to for everything related to the sky, planets, space and everything under the sun and around it. I wrote a news report about Comet Hale Bopp after speaking with him and how and where people could see it with the naked eye.

Sesanka was heading the IT department at AP Times, the newspaper I was working for.  He was responsible for all the technology involved with the making of the newspaper.

As I was sitting at my desk, Sesanka approached me and said: “Do you know that you can get more information about Hale Bopp?” My curiosity was aroused. The man who is otherwise completely occupied with his own work, walked me to his workstation. “These are the pictures. This is the information. You can get more information on this. Not just on this but much more about many other subjects,” Sesanka told me.

I gaped at him with amazement. “You can sit here and use my computer anytime to explore all the information that you want to,” Sesanka said.

This was the first time I had got introduced to the internet. And the wonder of it.

Internet was accessible for the public for the first time in India 1995 and in a limited way. It was still in its infancy. I had heard about it but could not visualise or imagine what it was. And here was Sesanka, with a great deal of interest explaining to me something that fascinated me.

The following year in 1998,  I wrote for Rediff-on-the-net, a news website which had gained popularity. I also used to write for a website called “Andhraonline”. I would do interviews and write regularly for it. But I used to have a difficult time explaining to people what the internet was and what a website.

Over a period of time, the internet became more known ad there were more websites and portals. And then came the dotcom bust. The talk was like there was no future for the internet and the domcoms were described as dotcons in derision.

The internet survived it all. It is the year 2022 and no one can survive without the internet.

Back to Sesanka who introduced me to the internet. As we sat for a talk in his office at ISB, he went back in time. He told me had educated himself in computers and taught at NIIT for five years before leaving for the US. After a couple of years, he returned to India and worked in top positions in different companies. He has been with ISB for more than three years now.

We were in touch in for the last couple of years or so but Covid came in the way and we could not meet.

Why did I want to meet Sensaka? This was for more than one reason. The big reason, of course, was that he introduced me to the internet, showed me how to use it and gave me the liberty to explore it.

More importantly, it is his nature. He, being an IT person, could have well been satisfied that he was performing his job well as the newspaper was getting published in time with the best quality possible. What stood out about him was the fact that not only did he read the newspaper thoroughly, he also went out of his way to see if he could be of help to colleagues during a transitional era where technology was beginning to change the world around you and the world itself.

On December 20, 2022 when I went to ISB and met Sesanka,  I was pleased to see him. I went to thank him for the person who he was. As one who introduced me to the internet when hardly anyone had practical knowledge of it, I would say Sesanka’s great gesture in opening up a whole new world for me will never be forgotten by me. Thank you Sesanka.

Documentary filmmaker Chilkuri Sushil Rao’s “India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satyanarayana” has won the Special Jury Award at the Telangana International Film Festival (TIFF) 2022

Documentary filmmaker Chilkuri Sushil Rao’s “India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satyanarayana” has won the Special Jury Award at the Telangana International Film Festival (TIFF). 

The  awards ceremony held on December 15, 2022 at Prasad Labs preview theatre at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.

The award was presented to the film maker by noted lyricist Suddala Ashok Teja,  TIFF founder and film director Manjula Surooju, Telangana State Police Academy deputy director R Giridhar, IPS, Murali Dharmapuri of TIFF from Australia and other dignitaries.

The 10-minutes documentary was also screened as part of the awards ceremony. A documentary on bio-degradable carry bags, the technology for which was developed at DRDO was also given the Special Jury Award and presented to scientist K Veera Brahmam.

In all 100 entries were received for the film festival out of which two were selected for the Special Jury Awards and three shorts films for the awards.

“The award is a recognition for the selfless climate activist Dusharla Satyanarayana. The choice of the jury in selecting the film only shows the importance that they have accorded to the idea of preserving nature and environment,” documentary filmmaker Chilkuri Sushil Rao said at the awards function.

“India’s GreenHeart Dusharla Satyanarayana” is about 69-year-old Dusharla Satyanarayana, who created a forest on forest on his 70 acre of ancestral land at Raghavapuram near Suryapet town. He started developing the forest more than six decades ago and preserves it. The nature-lover and environmentalist has taken up many causes in his several decades of public life.

At the awards presentation ceremony, noted lyricist Suddala Ashok Teja while lauded the film festival organiser Manjula Surooju for conducting the festival as a platform to showcase the works of independent film makers in particular.

Suddala Ashok Teja also appreciated Dusharla Satyanarayana for his work on preserving environment. A book titled “Nenu Adavani Matladuthunna” (This is Me, the forest speaking) authored by Suddala Ashok Teja was presented to documentary filmmaker Chilkuri Sushil Rao on the occasion.

The short film “Pullaiss” directed by Shivani Naidu was adjudged best short film. The film is about  a mentally challenged widowed mother and her son and their everyday life.