Kiran Abbavaram and Ravi Namburi on the sets of ‘Chennai Love Story’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For a little more than a decade, Ravi Namburi honed his skills as a screenplay writer and associate director for several Telugu films. He now makes his debut as director with the Telugu film Chennai Love Story, releasing on July 24. Taking time off for this interview amid post production work in Hyderabad, Ravi describes his film as “an experimental love story”. The promos of the film featuring Kiran Abbavaram and Sri Gouri Priya have stoked curiosity with the promise of a layered, complex story.The story idea, Ravi says, came from director Sai Rajesh. “I briefly worked with him for Baby. He narrated a story to me and the producer, SKN, and we found it compelling. Then he asked if I would be keen to direct it.” Ravi wrote the dialogues and co-wrote the screenplay with Sai Rajesh.Ravi hails from Visakhapatnam and completed B.Tech in 2008. “I specialised in ECE but joined a software company. I worked for four years before being completely drawn to the world of cinema.”He had been a movie buff since childhood, and a fan of Pawan Kalyan. “Once I moved to Hyderabad, the interest in cinema got the better of me,” he recounts.Ravi met director Maruthi on the sets of Bhale Bhale Magadivoy (2015). One thing led to another and soon he began pitching in as a writer for screenplays and dialogues. “Some of the initial films I worked for were not released.” Ravi continued working in varied capacities, ranging from writer to associate director, for films such as Brother of Bommali, Rojulu Marayi, Urvasivo Rakshasivo and Bhale Manchi Chowki Beram. The practical experience boosted his confidence, though he occasionally wished he had taken up formal training in filmmaking.
