Interview with director Kiran Kondamadugula

Welcome Mr Kondamadugula, we are very excited to have you today and discuss about your work. Who is Kiran Kondamadugula and how did his passion for filmmaking start?

Kiran is into film-making for more than 10 years. Kiran started making short films in 2012 and debuted with an indie feature film titled GATHAM in 2020 on Amazon Prime. His second feature, ID is acquired by a leading distribution company in India and is gearing up for a worldwide digital debut in 2023. By directing/producing more than half a dozen short films, 1 web series, and 2 commercials, Kiran accumulated a wealth of experience in various crafts. His major strength is the screenplay and Kiran enjoys telling stories in a non-linear fashion. Kiran's passion for film-making started at the age of 9 when he visited his grandparents in a small town. Their house was right next to a movie theatre that played the same movie for his entire stay. He watched the movie umpteen times because that was the only entertainment element in the town. One day, Kiran got an opportunity to go behind the scenes into the projector room and found the entire mechanism to be intriguing, he spent the entire time asking questions about how film works and several other things. That's the trigger point that led him to understand the concept of filmmaking. As he delved more into learning each and every craft, his passion ignited.

Can you tell us about your previous work?

I made my first short film in 2012 when I was in college. It is loosely based on the incidents and people around me. That's how the journey has begun and I took one step at a time to learn various crafts of film-making by experimenting in multiple genres. In 2018, I started writing script for my debut movie, with the core idea coming from one of my short films. Since I didn't have budget, I've reached out to my previous collaborators and folks who are passionate but no real-time experience. That's how the project kicked off and we shot straight 17 days in December, 2018 and three more weekend schedules to accommodate everyone's IT lives. Even though it took us 27 days to shoot the entire movie, I took more than a year to edit the film to get it into a shape that I am satisfied with. Later on we reached out to all our connections for distribution and sales. We got the opportunity to pitch the movie to Amazon Prime and they liked it immensely. If I am not wrong, it was the first indie movie acquired by Amazon Prime India from our industry that was released world-wide with aggressive promotions just like any other A-list actor movie. It went onto garner millions of streaming hours making my debut memorable.

CONVERSATION ABOUT: ID

Talk to us about your film ? What inspired ID ?

ID is an inspiration from the recent scams and schemers that are exploiting digital vulnerabilities. With the advent of internet, the world has become a global village and we can access anything from anywhere. Similarly, we can be targeted in many forms by many people and organizations. It is estimated in 2021 that there was a loss of 2.4 billion USD just in US because of identity theft. This fascinating yet terrifying fact intrigued me to develop an idea. Having said that, I have explored an other interesting theme coupled with identity theft in the movie which cannot be revealed before the release. It's this specific theme that has excited me more because it gave me an opportunity to explore people and their emotional vulnerabilities. ID revolves around a couple who are expecting a child. They decide to move to home country and throw a party one last time, which leads to shocking events making them victims of identity theft. Even though the idea can be vastly explored on wide canvas, I decided to narrate the story through grounded and relatable characters with their own share of grey traits. I am looking forward to what audience think about the movie.

You mentioned that your films follow a nonlinear storytelling fashion, could you explain this motive to us ?

For me story-telling is engrossing the audience into the world with character building. In this process, there is a sense of anticipation from the audience and I want their brains to work throughout, which in my opinion leaves a lasting impact after coming out of the movie. For this reason, I sometimes tend to break the order of chronology and let audience connect the dots.

How would you describe your art style ?

I derive my style from several film-makers who had a profound impact on me. The list includes David Fincher, Ram Gopal Varma who are known for visual story-telling. Having said that, I try to maintain my own integrity not just my carbon copying their techniques. To be honest, I am still evolving and this takes a lot of practice to arrive at my own signature.

What is the target audience of your project ?

My target audience for ID are people who enjoy psychological thrillers, especially dark and mystery sub genres. From the demographics perspective, 18-45 is the target age group since people in this range are more connected to the digital world and identity fraud going around, meaning easy to relate with the characters and the world.

FUTURE WORK AND CLOSING LETTER

What is the message the audience should convey leaving the screening of your film ?

I don't particularly have any message to convey through my movie. But the sub plot I dealt with human emotions and a sensitive topic on whether you should hold back to your dark secrets to save your marriage.  

Did you and your team face any difficulties while shooting your project ?

Plenty. Majority of the challenges we faced were due to location constraints. One such incident is a scene involving cop actors infront of a house. Even though we took all the necessary permissions, a neighbor was annoyed by crew vehicles parked infront their house and that led to a an argument which had blown out of proportion leading to the cancellation of shoot. Another major challenge was the production design in act 3. I had an ambitous vision for the final showdown which was challenging logistically and financially to achieve. With not so much left in our pockets, we decided to custom design everything by buying props from stores like Home Depot, Walmart and build everything in DIY fashion. End result was satisfying. 

Any future projects incoming ? Along with personal aspirations.

I am working on a fantasy plot which is a contrasting genre compared to my first two films. I am really excited for the way it has shaped up so far. My aspiration is to not make bad films and experiment in various genres.

That was the interview with our beloved creator Kiran Kondamadugula. Our community is rising everyday, new talented filmakers and screenwriters get onboard. Be sure to check the rest of our interviews and why not schedule one for yourself to promote your work. To publish an interview simply submit on the INTERVIEW OF YOUR FILM category on our Filmfreeway page.