Shankarabharanam- the word by itself resonates devout respect and some warm memories for every Telugu Film goer. It is one such masterpiece where every department went perfect and something new is found even after countless times of viewing. The first aspect which comes to the mind when this film comes into topic is undoubtedly the lead character Shankara Sastry played by Somayajulu. He played the role of a staunch and determined Carnatic Music exponent and at the same time questioned the superstitions which prevailed in the Indian Society. The film's dialogues were written by Hasya Brahma Jandhyala and the artistic director Vamshi worked as an assistant director as well. The celebrated cinematographer and director Balu Mahendra worked as a cameraman for the film.
“Shankara Naada Sareera” is no doubt the gem of the movie because of the placement it comes in. It is like a musical dialogue of our lead character Sankara Sastry with Lord Shiva about why his integrity is being questioned.
For a film to be successful and live timelessly, team work is of utmost importance. Literally every department has to excel in their work and have a feel that the film is their product. Shankarabharanam is such a film where it happened literally and here is a small example of their tremendous team work every crew member offered for it. It is time to go back in time and learn about how this fantastic song was filmed, influencing a generation of viewers and still continuing to do so.
Most of the crucial scenes were already filmed and had gone to the editing department by then. K.Vishwanath, obviously sensing the importance of Shankara Naada Sareera song decided to film it in a huge Lord Shiva temple. But the real struggle began with the search for ideal location for the song. The crew rigorously searched entire Andhra Pradesh but in vain. The answer came in the form of a Lord Shiva temple in Thiruvanmiyur, Madras. The temple was selected by producer Edidha Nageshwara Rao, who suggested to K.Vishwanath about it. Eventually everybody agreed it as the ideal place for this song.
With a huge sigh of relief, the Shankarabharanam team headed for the song filming, stretching over three days. K.Vishwanath wanted the dramatic effect of wind, thunder and rain during the song, as it arrives at a crucial juncture in the film. At an age when there were no computer graphics for the visual effect of rain, the producer arranged water tankers and huge fan blowers to create the effect.
Finally the day of filming arrived. Somayajulu was called from Vizag for the shooting. The temple management advised the crew not to enter with footwear and as they obliged, the crew was hurt with thorns and struggled. As they hurried from here and there for some work, the footwear of few crew members went missing!
Overcoming all these troubles when they decided to start the filming, alas! Generator went under repair. After countless efforts to get it repaired by the night, things went against it. The filming was cancelled and K.Vishwanath was very dejected to see it happen, mainly because he never wanted to over burden the producer with unnecessary expenditure. Such was the bonding between film makers and the producers those days.
Unnerved by the happenings, the filming was scheduled at a later date and when K.Vishwanath uttered the word “Action!” there was extreme silence in the location. Somayajulu acted with amazing excellence that people could see only Shankara Sastry’s agony but not the actor himself. It was time to create the thunder and rain effect for the song and the crew was handling a very angry propeller which almost blew the equipment away. Fifty sacks of dry leaves were brought from Vijaya Gardens to get the breezy effect and leaves flying, which was a challenging task for the crew to handle the enormous power of propeller.
Once the breezy shots were okay, it was time for the rain effect to come in. The deafening sound of fire engine and the leaves created lot of chaos in the location, but brought the much desired effect. Somayajulu was made to drench in buckets of water during the film, with many retakes resulting in high body temperature as well!
But Somayajulu was such a devoted actor. He never showed a tinge of impatience but told K.Vishwanath “ I have dedicated my body to your film and to you director sir, you can drench me in more water for this shot!”. ( “Ee Dheham meeku appaginchesanu, mee ishtam munchandi!”)
The same situation continued for three nights- by then the masterpiece song was perfectly picturized!
