January 13, 2024 • 41 mins
Season 6 Episode 20: From navigating the tides of a naval family upbringing to the serene corridors of Kalakshetra, the remarkable Ms. Amala Akkineni joins me, Curious Vedanth, for an intimate recounting of her evolution from a dancer to a silver screen sensation and a beacon of animal welfare. Her story is a tapestry of vivid experiences, where every relocation and each mentor's guidance is woven into the rich fabric of her life's work. As we sit in the historic Annapurna Studios, Amala walks us through her transformative years, shedding light on the profound connections between her artistic passions and the empathetic drive that would catapult her into the realms of animal welfare.
Our journey doesn't halt at Amala's illustrious film career, which saw her deliver stunning performances across five languages, but rather accelerates towards the heartfelt inception of the Blue Cross of Hyderabad. With tales from her cinematic endeavors to the compassionate endeavors off-screen, Amala offers us a glimpse into the relentless pursuit of a cause that resonates deeply with her soul. Supported by her renowned spouse, Nagarjuna, she paints a vivid picture of the trials, triumphs, and joys of championing the voiceless. This episode isn't just about the glitz of showbiz; it's a tribute to the enduring spirit of giving back.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hi, I am Curious Vedant and welcome to the
hundred and fortyth episode ofmy podcast.
I am recording this veryspecial episode at the legendary
Anupurna Studios in Hyderabad,india.
I am here to interview thelegendary, award-winning actress
, bharath Nantiam Dancer and thetop animal activist of the
(00:31):
country, ms Amala Akineni, thedirector of Anupurna College of
Film and Media and theco-founder of Blue Cross of
Hyderabad, one of the top animalwelfare organizations in India.
Hi, ms Akineni, welcome to myshow.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hi Vedant, thank you for that lovely introduction.
Really appreciate it andwelcome to Anupurna Studios,
thank you thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I've been to Anupurna Studios before, but this is
something different.
It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, this is a classroom actually, and it's a
screening classroom where wewatch what the students have
made, and so it's really cooland fun.
We sit here and we discusstheir projects.
That's nice, that's fun, socongratulations.
This is your hundred andfortyth podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I was told and, yeah, it's been a journey for me.
I've enjoyed it, Nice.
And how is Singapore?
Singapore is good.
I really enjoy it.
I just moved to schoolsrecently and I'm really enjoying
it, Nice, nice.
So through this interview,we'll talk about your journey as
an artist, your efforts toimprove the lives of animals and
(01:48):
your role as an educator atAnupurna College.
To start off, can you tell me alittle about your childhood?
What drew you to dancing andart?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
My parents were in the Navy, my dad was in the
Indian Navy and my mom had beena naval officer and my dad moved
around a lot.
They keep getting posted indifferent naval parts of India
naval centers, and because ofthat I went to boarding school.
(02:20):
I had seen Bharatanatyam beingperformed on stage and I thought
it was the most beautiful artform and I wanted to learn it,
and so my parents sent me to aplace called Kalakshitra in
Chennai and there I had somewonderful teachers and it's a
(02:42):
beautiful campus.
I studied in school there andthen went to college and all
along I had dance classes.
In the evenings the campus wasfull of animals.
There were like 14 communitydogs and there were cats and
(03:02):
there were cows and there weregoats and lots and lots of birds
.
Like you see the forest here.
It was a beautiful forest, liketrees, and there were lakes
when it rained and a lot of daftchicks would come and have
babies there snakes, and so Ireally grew up in a beautiful
(03:26):
campus which had a lot of naturearound it, and I learned to be
very comfortable with animals.
My dance teacher, shardaHoffman, and her husband, peter
Hoffman, had a very deepinfluence on me and they used to
encourage me to be kind toanimals.
Rukmini Devi, our founderherself.
(03:50):
She spoke beautifully abouthelping animals and I think all
of that really left a deepimpression on me, and I used to
help all the animals on thecampus.
I rescued my first animal whenI was maybe 7 or 8 years old.
Yeah, so that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
That's amazing.
Kala Kshetra sounds like a very, very nice place.
It was.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
It's in Chennai, right.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That's right.
How did you arrive at thedecision to go there?
Were there others among yourpeers who also went there to or,
if not went there, pursued asimilar career, and also did you
have the support of yourparents?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
My parents were very supportive.
In fact, I was learning dancein Vizag in the Naval base with
all my friends, and my danceteacher told my mother this girl
is gifted, why don't you takeher to some serious training?
I've taught her what I know andshe guided her to take me to
(05:01):
Kala Kshetra my mother, ofcourse.
I was the youngest child.
I have an older brother and anolder sister.
She was hesitant to send me toboarding school so young.
So she took me to Chennai andshe said let her see, and if she
really likes it, if she decidesand she wants to go, then we
will send her.
(05:21):
And that's what happened.
I went, my mother took me.
It was the summer holidays andI walked around the campus and I
thought I was in heaven becauseit was so different from a
crowded city the tall trees andall the birds and this open
space and the dance class.
(05:43):
And I just love to dance.
So every evening, three to five, we had our dance class, or
three, 15 to five o'clock, wehad our dance class and it was
the most magical thing for meand I said, yes, I want to go.
And my parents packed mysuitcase for me and sent me off
(06:04):
to Kala Kshetra.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, that you, and it sounds like you had a
wonderful time there.
I did.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I did.
You know it's normal to misshome the first few days, but
then I made friends and therewere girls from all over the
world.
They were from all differentparts of India, from different
countries of the world and theminute I made friends I was okay
and I got over my homesicknessand I spent almost 10 years in
(06:35):
that hostel.
I went to school and I went tocollege and I made friends.
Today, whenever I go to Chennaior any part of India and one of
my hostel friends are there,it's like I'm going home.
It's so nice to see them all.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
That's nice.
And you mentioned that RukminiDevi Arun Del was the founder of
Kala Kshetra.
Did you ever have a chance tomeet her and did she mentor you
and any dance?
And you said that she was alsothe one who sparked your animal
welfare journey.
Right, Right.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Right, yes, rukmini Devi was the director of Kala
Kshetra when I was a youngstudent there and I used to see
her at prayer meetings.
She would be there and she wasalways the most elegant.
She was in her 80s at that time.
(07:36):
She was the most elegant80-year-old I had ever seen and
she spoke so softly and sobeautifully and so
compassionately, trying toawaken all of us to being kind
to animals and to be considerateto them and not to propagate
(07:56):
cruelty.
She used to talk aboutvegetarianism.
My dance teacher, sharadaHoffman.
She had a very deep impact on mebecause I spent a lot more time
with her Every day in the danceclass and then after rehearsals
(08:19):
and dance practice she wouldtake us home and feed us
sandwiches and she would talk tous about all the things that
Rukmini Devi had set up and hadintended to do.
And Sharada teacher's husband,peter Hoffman.
Peter Hoffman was RukminiDevi's support to prepare the
(08:45):
report for the prevention ofcruelty to animals.
So in 1958, rukmini Devipresented in parliament a report
that Peter Hoffman had preparedin great detail regarding the
condition of animals acrossIndia and the cruelty being
(09:05):
meted out, and Rukmini Devipresented this in parliament she
was an MP at the time, and inparliament, pandit Nehru, who
was the Prime Minister, he tookthe report and he said leave
this with me, I would like tobring this in as an act.
And two years later 1960, thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals
(09:29):
Act came in as an act ofparliament.
So the person who wrote thatreport was like a father to me.
Peter Hoffman and I grew up intheir home and their campus and
both Sharada teacher and PeterHoffman had a deep influence on
me and they in turn had beendeeply influenced by Rukmini
(09:51):
Devi herself.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
And that sounds really nice.
And my father has talked to meabout the prevention for cruelty
to animals at many times and Ididn't know that Rukmini Devi
was the one who presented it.
I only learned that a few daysago.
And after Kalakshetra, wheredid you go?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
In Kalakshetra.
Well, I had a very excitinglife in Kalakshetra.
It was all between schooling,college, dance travels, tours,
dance performances.
I had an offer.
I mean movie directors used tocome after seeing the dance.
(10:40):
They would come and ask me if Iwanted to act in films.
And in my final year atKalakshetra I thought okay, I
have to think of what I want todo as a career.
And one particular director andhis wife, who was the producer,
they came and asked me to do afilm and they said this film
(11:01):
requires a classical dancer.
So will you be the heroine ofthe film who is supposed to be a
classical dancer?
And until then I used to laughthinking how can I act in films?
I don't know acting and all ofthat.
But when they said do you want,will you act?
We need a classical dancer,then it made a click for me.
(11:22):
You know, things fell intoplace and I said this I can do.
I said, okay, let me try.
I have to explore what, inwhich field I can build a career
.
And I did that film, eventhough I didn't know how to act.
The director said no, don'tworry, I will teach you how to
act and I will train you and itwas very interesting.
(11:46):
The whole film we finished inabout six or eight months and
the film released.
And when the movie released Iremember going to see it in the
theater and it was very excitingto see myself up there on the
big screen.
And when I came out of thetheater I was writing my TVS 50,
(12:07):
which I used to do as a student, and it was Adyar Crossroads,
the main Adyar lights, thetraffic lights, and I was on my
TVS 50 coming from the theaterand suddenly everybody around me
started saying Amala, Amala,amala, paru, amala, paru.
And oh, my goodness, I gotwhich is look, look, look, it's
(12:30):
Amala.
And I got so frightened andrealized, oh, everybody's
recognizing me because now I'm amovie actor.
And so I realized I need to buya car now and that prompted me
to go and sign my second film.
But, jokes apart, it was veryexciting because suddenly I had
(12:54):
so many offers and so manypeople who wanted to make movies
with me, and for the next eightyears I was busy every single
day shooting movies in fivedifferent languages right across
the country.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, well, that sounds like a dream.
It sounds so amazing and wow, Iwould love to watch those
movies someday.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
You should watch a film called Pushpak, which
should be on YouTube.
It's a film which doesn't haveany dialogues.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, yeah, what was your favorite movie that you
acted in?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know I did a lot of favorite movies, but I think
I have a couple of favoritemovies in every language, yeah,
so I have a favorite movie inMalayalam, which was called
Yanda Suryaputri, and I have afavorite movie in Tamil, which
(14:05):
is I have two favorite movies inTamil.
One was called Agni Nakshatra,which was made with Manirathnam
sir, and the other was a recentone called Kanam Sri Kartik,
made by Sri Kartik.
I have a favorite movies inTelugu.
(14:26):
One was a film called Shiva.
There was another very nicefilm called Ninnayam, but then
I've also done my last film inTelugu, which is called Ok
Okajivitham.
Yeah, then in Hindi.
Of course, shiva was in Hinditoo, but I have a latest release
(14:47):
in Hindi called TumseNahopayega.
I'm playing the protagonist'smom, and he's a young
entrepreneur and it's all aboutthe struggles he has and how his
mom supports him.
So, yeah, so it's lots of fun.
So many movies.
But Pushpuk, interestingly, wasmade in Kannada.
So, yeah, five languages foryou.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Wow, five languages, that's a lot of languages, and
you must have had to learn allof them, right?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yes, you see, as an actor you don't have to be
perfect at anything, but you canact like you're perfect, so you
can do many things and youdon't have to worry about being
perfect.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
But that's amazing.
You've had a very, verysuccessful acting career.
I've had a very interesting one.
Yeah, and how did the BlueCross of Hyderabad come about
and what does it do?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So in 1992, which is almost 32 years ago, I married
my husband, who's also a veryfamous movie star and a producer
and he owns Anapudna Studios.
His name is Naga Juna, yeah,yeah, and I married him.
(16:15):
And when I came to Hyderabad, Imarried him.
And when I came to Hyderabad,it struck me that I didn't have
to go to work the next day,because for eight years, back to
back, every day, I was going towork, every single day.
And suddenly I had taken abreak and come to Hyderabad, a
new city, and my husband wasvery supportive.
He said yeah, you know what youwant, you don't have to go to
(16:38):
work.
If you don't want to go to work, it's up to you.
Enjoy, enjoy your life.
And so I got up and I wasvisiting a friend and during the
journey in my car I saw a lorryrun over a goat and I jumped
(17:01):
out and I picked it up and Ilooked for a number, because in
Chennai I used to take themstraight to Blue Cross of India.
That used to be the place, theanimal shelter I used to
volunteer at.
I used to take them there and Irealized there was no number to
call here, so I took it to aveterinary hospital in
Shantinagar and there was alovely, wonderful lady Vet there
(17:25):
who worked for the government.
Her name was Dr Vijay Kumariand she helped me.
You know, bandage the goat upand I brought it home and within
one month, vedant, my house,was an animal shelter.
I had injured dogs and cats andpuppies and kittens and birds,
(17:46):
and I had a buffalo with abroken hip and a donkey with a
broken leg and a blind mongoose.
I had birds of all shapes andsizes and my husband came back
from his shooting one day he wasvery busy as a movie star, came
back and he said you know,amala, the house has become like
(18:08):
a zoo.
I think you need to plan itbetter and do it for the entire
city.
Why don't you do it?
It shows that this is a needfor the city.
It was his idea.
He put the seed in my head andI took all the love I had for
animals and, together with theseed and the love, we created
(18:28):
Blue Cross of Hyderabad.
That's how it started.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Wow, and it must have been like a really, really big
achievement.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It was just the idea, if I may say so.
From then the hard work started, and it was a very hard work,
vedant.
It was probably the mostdifficult thing I ever did.
Acting was easy.
Acting was very easy.
I tell you, the real workstarted when I had to start Blue
(19:04):
Cross, when I took it up, but Ithink it's because I was doing
it for a cause greater thanmyself.
Nothing would stop me.
It doesn't matter how difficultit was, it doesn't matter how
challenging it was to convincepeople or to take all the
(19:25):
criticism and abuse that I gotand the sheer hard work of
rescuing thousands and thousandsand thousands of animals, never
ending it was.
It was tough and I had to geteven tougher and I had to really
become strong and courageousinside and outside, but it was
(19:50):
all worth it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
And I've been to the shelter Blue Cross and it's
amazing.
I really, really, I reallyloved it.
There was animals everywhereand it's so nice that you
started helping all of theinjured animals, because I see
when, even when I was cominghere, there were just stray dogs
(20:15):
and cats walking the streetsand at any moment a car or bus
or lorry could hit it.
Thank you, vedant.
And now there's a place for theanimals to go to get better.
And can you tell me more aboutthe annual birth control program
and also its importance?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay, so what do you know about it?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Something like preventing dogs or cats for
having too many babies andoverpopulation of the species,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
So in India, as in a number of developing nations,
there is a lot of garbage thatis externally disposed.
Unlike Singapore, singapore isso clean.
Everything just disappearsmagically in the night, and in
India it doesn't disappearmagically.
(21:15):
But I mean we have a very goodmunicipal cleaning program where
they do come and collect thegarbage.
But other than that there are alot of communities where they
just throw the garbage, eateries, they just throw the garbage,
and because of this massiveamount of garbage and food waste
(21:38):
being thrown, naturally itattracts an astray animals.
It's like inviting them to abiryani party, yeah, saying come
, come, come, we've got lots offood for you.
So these stray animals gather,they congregate, they eat and
they breed.
They say nature abhors a vacuum.
(21:59):
So where there is food andthere is space available, some
creature will thrive, naturewill thrive.
So nature has sent the dogwherever the human being is and
because of the garbage the dogthrives Right In this process.
(22:20):
Naturally dog management has tobe part and parcel of it.
So you have garbage managementand you have dog management.
So every city in India.
There are some laws now in placewhere the municipal corporation
or the municipal authoritieshave to partner with the local
(22:42):
animal welfare groups and theyneed to implement dog management
along with garbage management,with the garbage clearance Right
and along with that.
That's how the ABC program wasformed.
Abc is it's as easy as ABCanimal birth control.
The government have very strictrules on how it's supposed to
(23:07):
be done, because not everybodyis equipped to deal with stray
animals and if something goeswrong, stray animals can't ask
for help Right.
So that's where the animalwelfare group plays a very
strong role to make sure aboutthe welfare standards of the
animal birth control program, tomake sure that the catching of
(23:29):
the dogs is done in a veryhumane manner and that the
surgeons are highly trained,because in four days of the dog
being caught, neutered andvaccinated, the dog has to be
released back in its place.
And this is the program.
About five years ago we realizedthat the dog population was
(23:52):
just growing and growing andgrowing and there were more and
more parts of the city.
The city was growing andextending and including new
parts and new dog populationsand new garbage to deal with.
So we realized that somebodyhad to work very hard just to do
(24:13):
the dog management Right.
And if you want to work hardand do something, you have to
give up something else.
You can't do a little bit ofthis and that and that and that
and that and that and beeffective, right.
So it's like when I became anactor, I gave up dancing because
(24:35):
I realized I had to focus anddo one thing.
When I started animal welfare, Igave up acting and I gave up
dancing.
And when I started doing theanimal birth control, I had to
give up several other areaswhich were taking up all the
shelter space and all the budgetwe could raise and all our time
(25:00):
and energy, and it wasn'thelping.
It wasn't helping anyone.
So we stopped all of that andwe shut down everything and we
shifted only to sterilizingstreet dogs and cats.
Within one year there was anenormous drop in the number of
(25:22):
puppies, there was a huge dropin the number of road accidents
and there was an even largerdrop in the number of cases of
Parvovirus distemper and othercanine diseases that come with
unhealthy dog populations.
That's only because we startedfocusing on neutering and
(25:47):
vaccinating, and when wevaccinate, we vaccinate for all
the canine diseases as well asrabies.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Wow, congratulations.
Thank you.
And in Hyderabad is Blue Crossthe only shelter, or are there
any more?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I think there are almost 28 groups of animal
welfare people in Hyderabad.
Although the shelters may befive or six shelters, I haven't
been to them all but I do knowthat a large number of young
people want to start up newplaces and are looking for
(26:29):
spaces to collaborate with.
I met this young man Devan washis name and when he was in
engineering college he wasstudying aeronautical
engineering he had convinced hisengineering college to give him
space where he started kennelsfor abandoned dogs.
(26:50):
It was quite remarkable.
So there are lots of youngpeople like that, collaborating
with small spaces that they canfind to help the localised
animals they find locally.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And what are a few things my listeners can do to
help animals and support BlueCross.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
You could definitely visit your local animal shelter
and see how you can help them,because there is a great need
for people to understand how tocoexist with animals.
Visiting an animal sheltergives you that opportunity to
know how to be around animalsand how to support them.
(27:40):
If you can't adopt, I mean itwill be wonderful to adopt a
homeless animal.
But in case you are living in asmall apartment or your parents
are very busy travelling andyou go to school all day and you
don't have the time to adopt,at least you can go to a shelter
and you can walk the shelterdogs, help the shelter and
(28:02):
improve the quality of life ofthe shelter dogs.
Never, ever, take pictures withexotic wildlife.
I mean there is a lot ofcruelty in the world today with
people being fascinated to takepictures with wildlife and that
causes a lot of trauma andanxiety and those animals are
(28:25):
kept in captivity and it's quitea miserable life they lead for
that one photograph.
There are many, many ways tohelp animals, but your first
starts with a visit to a shelter.
Our shelter has a specialprogram for children and on
(28:46):
Saturdays, if you visit ourshelter, we give a nice
presentation on all the wayschildren can help animals and it
starts with a tour of theshelter, knowing all the
different animals and the issuesthat they face.
What time does it start?
(29:07):
It starts around 10, between 10and 11 am.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Okay, wonderful.
Moving on to Anipurna College,can you share a little about
what the college does and alsoyour role here, sure?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So my father-in-law was a legendary actor, akineni
Nageshwar Rao.
He was one of the earlypioneers of the Telugu film
industry to set up the studio inHyderabad and bring the Telugu
cinema from Chennai to Hyderabad.
(29:45):
Until then, chennai was the hubof making films and my
father-in-law and many pioneerswith him at that time brought
the industry to Telangana.
The then Andhra Pradesh, whichwas the two states of Telangana
were one at the time Teluguspeaking states.
(30:08):
The studio was built about 45years ago and it was his dream.
After he built the studio andhe had his entire family working
to make films in the studio,his dream was to set up an
institution where they couldeducate filmmakers for the
(30:33):
future.
So it's not enough just to makefilms, but you must learn how
to make films, and that's howAnipurna College of Film and
Media started.
It is 12 years now and, as myfather-in-law passed away some
years ago, my family requestedme after his passing to take on
(30:55):
the responsibility of lookingafter the film and media college
.
So here I am, the director, andwe have 250 students in
different degree programslearning filmmaking.
There's a bachelor's degree.
There's a bachelor's degree inanimation and visual effects as
(31:16):
well.
There's a bachelor's degree infilmmaking.
There's a master's degree infilmmaking and there are lots of
short courses in all thedifferent crafts of cinema, of
filmmaking, and even in actingthere's a certificate course, an
intensive course of 5 months.
We have young people herefinding their way and learning
(31:39):
how to make films.
When you came in, we werewatching a mini series a set of
students have made.
It was an 8 episode series thatthey've made and it's about a
ghost.
So we were sitting hereenjoying it and they were
getting some feedback from thefaculty and this would be an
(32:03):
exam for them.
So they'll be getting theirmarks based on how the whether
they've been able to applyeverything they've learned from
their teachers and their facultyduring that course, how they've
applied it when making the miniseries.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, is it on animated series?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
No, it's a filmed one .
They've got actors and theyshot it in various parts of the
studio.
They'll be going on now totheir final semester, where
they'll make their graduationfilm.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So that's nice.
Maybe I can come here and tryto learn here sometime.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Oh, you're most welcome If that's interesting
for you.
I can see it's.
You're already comfortable withsound, right?
So every film, that doesn'tmatter how short and how long,
requires a soundtrack.
And the soundtrack, if it's themore powerful or the more
(33:07):
sensitive it is, the better theemotion of the scene, right?
So from the cameras hidden inthe actors' clothing and the set
to capturing it when they shoot, and then they have to clean it
up on the console and then theyadd the sound effects and then
(33:27):
they add the music, and thenthey layer the whole thing and
mix it, and then you get thisbeautiful soundtrack which just
elevates the whole film or theepisode to another level.
But it needs somebody with avery good year for sound, right?
So that's what you do with thesound.
(33:48):
And then, of course, you havethe writers.
If you're a writer, you'reinterested in reading and you're
a thinker, then you would writeand you would direct the
episode, and direction is also avery exciting thing.
Writing is an art and a craftby itself.
Or you have an interest incameras and visual storytelling.
(34:11):
Then you'd be a cinematographerand you learn all.
You become the camera, so youreyes become the camera and you
understand how to move aroundand tell the story in the most
exciting way right, visualstorytelling and you understand
the colors and the spaces andhow to use those spaces to tell
(34:35):
your story and bring that scriptalive.
After they film it then comesthe editor.
And the editor is like anotherdirector or another storyteller,
because they cut it up and theyarrange the whole thing in a
way that becomes really moreinteresting, like when do you
reveal to the audience that whodone it or what's happening
(34:59):
around the corner?
Am I going to tell you who'swaiting there?
Stop, I'll tell you nextepisode.
And then, of course, you havethe production, the producer,
the production team, becausethey have to arrange everything
and they're very good organizers, they're very good schedulers,
(35:21):
they think how to market it.
Who is our audience?
How am I going to raise thebudget?
How am I going to get things atthe least cost so that I don't
spend all the money on thingsthat I can't afford?
And they control everybody withthe budget.
And then they finally take it.
They know how to advertise itand do their social media
(35:43):
campaign to get the film or thecontent out there.
So these are all the maincrafts, but there's a lot more.
You learn the history of cinema.
You learn film studies.
You learn media laws, becausemedia laws are very strict now
and you have to learn so manydifferent things.
You learn a bit of documentaryand you learn environmental
(36:09):
science and the environmentalscience stories you tell through
documentary.
And you learn psychologypsychology how the audience
psychology and the storytellerpsychology and the young person
psychology to be happy insideand outside.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
And do you have any tips you can share for students
who are interested in our careerin film and media?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
It's a great time to think about it because it's one
of the industries that aregrowing at 22%.
That is growing at 22%, sothere are huge opportunities
opening up.
But, having said that, you haveto come with an education.
(37:02):
So the opportunities are there,but the training is very tough.
You have to go through thetraining and the craft and all
of that because it's heavilytechnology based.
You can't just show up and knowhow to use the equipment.
You can't just show up andexpect somebody to let you use
their equipment.
(37:22):
It takes a lot of training andskills with that.
Even if you train, it requiresthe attitude of an Olympic
sports person.
And I say Olympics becausemaking a film is like the
(37:42):
Olympics.
It's the most difficult thingyou would have done.
I didn't say it was acting.
Acting was easy.
Animal welfare was difficultfor me but I kept going because
I loved the animals and then itwas worth it.
(38:04):
Every difficulty I faced wasworth it and made me just do my
best In cinema, in filmmaking,it's tough because out of
nothing you have to create adream and you have to not just
tell a story that gives hope andengages your audience and
(38:27):
garner everybody's attention.
You have to make it all seemreal.
And it's tough, it's not easy,it's challenging, and to wake up
every day and do that kind ofchallenging work takes an
Olympian spirit.
So you need to be veryhardworking, you need to be very
(38:49):
passionate about tellingstories and you need to have a
good way with technology, youknow?
And if you have these threethings, then film is for you.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah well, film sounds really fun, Like it might
be a really really hard thingto do, but the end thing is
amazing, because I've watchedquite a few movies and it's
always amazing and the amount ofhard work they've done to make
(39:23):
it is all worth it, because it'sjust a piece of art Really.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Really Well said.
Well said, vedan.
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
I really, really enjoyed talking to you today.
Thank you so much for coming onthis show.
I really really enjoyedspeaking to you.
I learned a lot from it.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Thank you, vedan.
I've enjoyed sharing whatlittle I know about animal
welfare and cinema and actingand growing up, and I wish you
and your listeners you have awonderful 2024.
There are exciting thingshappening around the world and
(40:06):
there are difficult thingshappening around the world.
As much as there is opportunity, there's also a lot of
suffering, and I hope yourpodcast will give will share,
hope and guidance for youngpeople across the world.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you, vedan.
Thank you All the very best.
Thank you, and don't forget torate and leave comments.
Hi, I am Curious Vedant and welcome to the
hundred and fortyth episode ofmy podcast.
I am recording this veryspecial episode at the legendary
Anupurna Studios in Hyderabad,india.
I am here to interview thelegendary, award-winning actress
, bharath Nantiam Dancer and thetop animal activist of the
(00:31):
country, ms Amala Akineni, thedirector of Anupurna College of
Film and Media and theco-founder of Blue Cross of
Hyderabad, one of the top animalwelfare organizations in India.
Hi, ms Akineni, welcome to myshow.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hi Vedant, thank you for that lovely introduction.
Really appreciate it andwelcome to Anupurna Studios,
thank you thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I've been to Anupurna Studios before, but this is
something different.
It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, this is a classroom actually, and it's a
screening classroom where wewatch what the students have
made, and so it's really cooland fun.
We sit here and we discusstheir projects.
That's nice, that's fun, socongratulations.
This is your hundred andfortyth podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I was told and, yeah, it's been a journey for me.
I've enjoyed it, Nice.
And how is Singapore?
Singapore is good.
I really enjoy it.
I just moved to schoolsrecently and I'm really enjoying
it, Nice, nice.
So through this interview,we'll talk about your journey as
an artist, your efforts toimprove the lives of animals and
(01:48):
your role as an educator atAnupurna College.
To start off, can you tell me alittle about your childhood?
What drew you to dancing andart?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
My parents were in the Navy, my dad was in the
Indian Navy and my mom had beena naval officer and my dad moved
around a lot.
They keep getting posted indifferent naval parts of India
naval centers, and because ofthat I went to boarding school.
(02:20):
I had seen Bharatanatyam beingperformed on stage and I thought
it was the most beautiful artform and I wanted to learn it,
and so my parents sent me to aplace called Kalakshitra in
Chennai and there I had somewonderful teachers and it's a
(02:42):
beautiful campus.
I studied in school there andthen went to college and all
along I had dance classes.
In the evenings the campus wasfull of animals.
There were like 14 communitydogs and there were cats and
(03:02):
there were cows and there weregoats and lots and lots of birds
.
Like you see the forest here.
It was a beautiful forest, liketrees, and there were lakes
when it rained and a lot of daftchicks would come and have
babies there snakes, and so Ireally grew up in a beautiful
(03:26):
campus which had a lot of naturearound it, and I learned to be
very comfortable with animals.
My dance teacher, shardaHoffman, and her husband, peter
Hoffman, had a very deepinfluence on me and they used to
encourage me to be kind toanimals.
Rukmini Devi, our founderherself.
(03:50):
She spoke beautifully abouthelping animals and I think all
of that really left a deepimpression on me, and I used to
help all the animals on thecampus.
I rescued my first animal whenI was maybe 7 or 8 years old.
Yeah, so that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
That's amazing.
Kala Kshetra sounds like a very, very nice place.
It was.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
It's in Chennai, right.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That's right.
How did you arrive at thedecision to go there?
Were there others among yourpeers who also went there to or,
if not went there, pursued asimilar career, and also did you
have the support of yourparents?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
My parents were very supportive.
In fact, I was learning dancein Vizag in the Naval base with
all my friends, and my danceteacher told my mother this girl
is gifted, why don't you takeher to some serious training?
I've taught her what I know andshe guided her to take me to
(05:01):
Kala Kshetra my mother, ofcourse.
I was the youngest child.
I have an older brother and anolder sister.
She was hesitant to send me toboarding school so young.
So she took me to Chennai andshe said let her see, and if she
really likes it, if she decidesand she wants to go, then we
will send her.
(05:21):
And that's what happened.
I went, my mother took me.
It was the summer holidays andI walked around the campus and I
thought I was in heaven becauseit was so different from a
crowded city the tall trees andall the birds and this open
space and the dance class.
(05:43):
And I just love to dance.
So every evening, three to five, we had our dance class, or
three, 15 to five o'clock, wehad our dance class and it was
the most magical thing for meand I said, yes, I want to go.
And my parents packed mysuitcase for me and sent me off
(06:04):
to Kala Kshetra.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, that you, and it sounds like you had a
wonderful time there.
I did.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I did.
You know it's normal to misshome the first few days, but
then I made friends and therewere girls from all over the
world.
They were from all differentparts of India, from different
countries of the world and theminute I made friends I was okay
and I got over my homesicknessand I spent almost 10 years in
(06:35):
that hostel.
I went to school and I went tocollege and I made friends.
Today, whenever I go to Chennaior any part of India and one of
my hostel friends are there,it's like I'm going home.
It's so nice to see them all.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
That's nice.
And you mentioned that RukminiDevi Arun Del was the founder of
Kala Kshetra.
Did you ever have a chance tomeet her and did she mentor you
and any dance?
And you said that she was alsothe one who sparked your animal
welfare journey.
Right, Right.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Right, yes, rukmini Devi was the director of Kala
Kshetra when I was a youngstudent there and I used to see
her at prayer meetings.
She would be there and she wasalways the most elegant.
She was in her 80s at that time.
(07:36):
She was the most elegant80-year-old I had ever seen and
she spoke so softly and sobeautifully and so
compassionately, trying toawaken all of us to being kind
to animals and to be considerateto them and not to propagate
(07:56):
cruelty.
She used to talk aboutvegetarianism.
My dance teacher, sharadaHoffman.
She had a very deep impact on mebecause I spent a lot more time
with her Every day in the danceclass and then after rehearsals
(08:19):
and dance practice she wouldtake us home and feed us
sandwiches and she would talk tous about all the things that
Rukmini Devi had set up and hadintended to do.
And Sharada teacher's husband,peter Hoffman.
Peter Hoffman was RukminiDevi's support to prepare the
(08:45):
report for the prevention ofcruelty to animals.
So in 1958, rukmini Devipresented in parliament a report
that Peter Hoffman had preparedin great detail regarding the
condition of animals acrossIndia and the cruelty being
(09:05):
meted out, and Rukmini Devipresented this in parliament she
was an MP at the time, and inparliament, pandit Nehru, who
was the Prime Minister, he tookthe report and he said leave
this with me, I would like tobring this in as an act.
And two years later 1960, thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals
(09:29):
Act came in as an act ofparliament.
So the person who wrote thatreport was like a father to me.
Peter Hoffman and I grew up intheir home and their campus and
both Sharada teacher and PeterHoffman had a deep influence on
me and they in turn had beendeeply influenced by Rukmini
(09:51):
Devi herself.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
And that sounds really nice.
And my father has talked to meabout the prevention for cruelty
to animals at many times and Ididn't know that Rukmini Devi
was the one who presented it.
I only learned that a few daysago.
And after Kalakshetra, wheredid you go?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
In Kalakshetra.
Well, I had a very excitinglife in Kalakshetra.
It was all between schooling,college, dance travels, tours,
dance performances.
I had an offer.
I mean movie directors used tocome after seeing the dance.
(10:40):
They would come and ask me if Iwanted to act in films.
And in my final year atKalakshetra I thought okay, I
have to think of what I want todo as a career.
And one particular director andhis wife, who was the producer,
they came and asked me to do afilm and they said this film
(11:01):
requires a classical dancer.
So will you be the heroine ofthe film who is supposed to be a
classical dancer?
And until then I used to laughthinking how can I act in films?
I don't know acting and all ofthat.
But when they said do you want,will you act?
We need a classical dancer,then it made a click for me.
(11:22):
You know, things fell intoplace and I said this I can do.
I said, okay, let me try.
I have to explore what, inwhich field I can build a career
.
And I did that film, eventhough I didn't know how to act.
The director said no, don'tworry, I will teach you how to
act and I will train you and itwas very interesting.
(11:46):
The whole film we finished inabout six or eight months and
the film released.
And when the movie released Iremember going to see it in the
theater and it was very excitingto see myself up there on the
big screen.
And when I came out of thetheater I was writing my TVS 50,
(12:07):
which I used to do as a student, and it was Adyar Crossroads,
the main Adyar lights, thetraffic lights, and I was on my
TVS 50 coming from the theaterand suddenly everybody around me
started saying Amala, Amala,amala, paru, amala, paru.
And oh, my goodness, I gotwhich is look, look, look, it's
(12:30):
Amala.
And I got so frightened andrealized, oh, everybody's
recognizing me because now I'm amovie actor.
And so I realized I need to buya car now and that prompted me
to go and sign my second film.
But, jokes apart, it was veryexciting because suddenly I had
(12:54):
so many offers and so manypeople who wanted to make movies
with me, and for the next eightyears I was busy every single
day shooting movies in fivedifferent languages right across
the country.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, well, that sounds like a dream.
It sounds so amazing and wow, Iwould love to watch those
movies someday.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
You should watch a film called Pushpak, which
should be on YouTube.
It's a film which doesn't haveany dialogues.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, yeah, what was your favorite movie that you
acted in?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know I did a lot of favorite movies, but I think
I have a couple of favoritemovies in every language, yeah,
so I have a favorite movie inMalayalam, which was called
Yanda Suryaputri, and I have afavorite movie in Tamil, which
(14:05):
is I have two favorite movies inTamil.
One was called Agni Nakshatra,which was made with Manirathnam
sir, and the other was a recentone called Kanam Sri Kartik,
made by Sri Kartik.
I have a favorite movies inTelugu.
(14:26):
One was a film called Shiva.
There was another very nicefilm called Ninnayam, but then
I've also done my last film inTelugu, which is called Ok
Okajivitham.
Yeah, then in Hindi.
Of course, shiva was in Hinditoo, but I have a latest release
(14:47):
in Hindi called TumseNahopayega.
I'm playing the protagonist'smom, and he's a young
entrepreneur and it's all aboutthe struggles he has and how his
mom supports him.
So, yeah, so it's lots of fun.
So many movies.
But Pushpuk, interestingly, wasmade in Kannada.
So, yeah, five languages foryou.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Wow, five languages, that's a lot of languages, and
you must have had to learn allof them, right?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yes, you see, as an actor you don't have to be
perfect at anything, but you canact like you're perfect, so you
can do many things and youdon't have to worry about being
perfect.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
But that's amazing.
You've had a very, verysuccessful acting career.
I've had a very interesting one.
Yeah, and how did the BlueCross of Hyderabad come about
and what does it do?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So in 1992, which is almost 32 years ago, I married
my husband, who's also a veryfamous movie star and a producer
and he owns Anapudna Studios.
His name is Naga Juna, yeah,yeah, and I married him.
(16:15):
And when I came to Hyderabad, Imarried him.
And when I came to Hyderabad,it struck me that I didn't have
to go to work the next day,because for eight years, back to
back, every day, I was going towork, every single day.
And suddenly I had taken abreak and come to Hyderabad, a
new city, and my husband wasvery supportive.
He said yeah, you know what youwant, you don't have to go to
(16:38):
work.
If you don't want to go to work, it's up to you.
Enjoy, enjoy your life.
And so I got up and I wasvisiting a friend and during the
journey in my car I saw a lorryrun over a goat and I jumped
(17:01):
out and I picked it up and Ilooked for a number, because in
Chennai I used to take themstraight to Blue Cross of India.
That used to be the place, theanimal shelter I used to
volunteer at.
I used to take them there and Irealized there was no number to
call here, so I took it to aveterinary hospital in
Shantinagar and there was alovely, wonderful lady Vet there
(17:25):
who worked for the government.
Her name was Dr Vijay Kumariand she helped me.
You know, bandage the goat upand I brought it home and within
one month, vedant, my house,was an animal shelter.
I had injured dogs and cats andpuppies and kittens and birds,
(17:46):
and I had a buffalo with abroken hip and a donkey with a
broken leg and a blind mongoose.
I had birds of all shapes andsizes and my husband came back
from his shooting one day he wasvery busy as a movie star, came
back and he said you know,amala, the house has become like
(18:08):
a zoo.
I think you need to plan itbetter and do it for the entire
city.
Why don't you do it?
It shows that this is a needfor the city.
It was his idea.
He put the seed in my head andI took all the love I had for
animals and, together with theseed and the love, we created
(18:28):
Blue Cross of Hyderabad.
That's how it started.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Wow, and it must have been like a really, really big
achievement.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It was just the idea, if I may say so.
From then the hard work started, and it was a very hard work,
vedant.
It was probably the mostdifficult thing I ever did.
Acting was easy.
Acting was very easy.
I tell you, the real workstarted when I had to start Blue
(19:04):
Cross, when I took it up, but Ithink it's because I was doing
it for a cause greater thanmyself.
Nothing would stop me.
It doesn't matter how difficultit was, it doesn't matter how
challenging it was to convincepeople or to take all the
(19:25):
criticism and abuse that I gotand the sheer hard work of
rescuing thousands and thousandsand thousands of animals, never
ending it was.
It was tough and I had to geteven tougher and I had to really
become strong and courageousinside and outside, but it was
(19:50):
all worth it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
And I've been to the shelter Blue Cross and it's
amazing.
I really, really, I reallyloved it.
There was animals everywhereand it's so nice that you
started helping all of theinjured animals, because I see
when, even when I was cominghere, there were just stray dogs
(20:15):
and cats walking the streetsand at any moment a car or bus
or lorry could hit it.
Thank you, vedant.
And now there's a place for theanimals to go to get better.
And can you tell me more aboutthe annual birth control program
and also its importance?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay, so what do you know about it?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Something like preventing dogs or cats for
having too many babies andoverpopulation of the species,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
So in India, as in a number of developing nations,
there is a lot of garbage thatis externally disposed.
Unlike Singapore, singapore isso clean.
Everything just disappearsmagically in the night, and in
India it doesn't disappearmagically.
(21:15):
But I mean we have a very goodmunicipal cleaning program where
they do come and collect thegarbage.
But other than that there are alot of communities where they
just throw the garbage, eateries, they just throw the garbage,
and because of this massiveamount of garbage and food waste
(21:38):
being thrown, naturally itattracts an astray animals.
It's like inviting them to abiryani party, yeah, saying come
, come, come, we've got lots offood for you.
So these stray animals gather,they congregate, they eat and
they breed.
They say nature abhors a vacuum.
(21:59):
So where there is food andthere is space available, some
creature will thrive, naturewill thrive.
So nature has sent the dogwherever the human being is and
because of the garbage the dogthrives Right In this process.
(22:20):
Naturally dog management has tobe part and parcel of it.
So you have garbage managementand you have dog management.
So every city in India.
There are some laws now in placewhere the municipal corporation
or the municipal authoritieshave to partner with the local
(22:42):
animal welfare groups and theyneed to implement dog management
along with garbage management,with the garbage clearance Right
and along with that.
That's how the ABC program wasformed.
Abc is it's as easy as ABCanimal birth control.
The government have very strictrules on how it's supposed to
(23:07):
be done, because not everybodyis equipped to deal with stray
animals and if something goeswrong, stray animals can't ask
for help Right.
So that's where the animalwelfare group plays a very
strong role to make sure aboutthe welfare standards of the
animal birth control program, tomake sure that the catching of
(23:29):
the dogs is done in a veryhumane manner and that the
surgeons are highly trained,because in four days of the dog
being caught, neutered andvaccinated, the dog has to be
released back in its place.
And this is the program.
About five years ago we realizedthat the dog population was
(23:52):
just growing and growing andgrowing and there were more and
more parts of the city.
The city was growing andextending and including new
parts and new dog populationsand new garbage to deal with.
So we realized that somebodyhad to work very hard just to do
(24:13):
the dog management Right.
And if you want to work hardand do something, you have to
give up something else.
You can't do a little bit ofthis and that and that and that
and that and that and beeffective, right.
So it's like when I became anactor, I gave up dancing because
(24:35):
I realized I had to focus anddo one thing.
When I started animal welfare, Igave up acting and I gave up
dancing.
And when I started doing theanimal birth control, I had to
give up several other areaswhich were taking up all the
shelter space and all the budgetwe could raise and all our time
(25:00):
and energy, and it wasn'thelping.
It wasn't helping anyone.
So we stopped all of that andwe shut down everything and we
shifted only to sterilizingstreet dogs and cats.
Within one year there was anenormous drop in the number of
(25:22):
puppies, there was a huge dropin the number of road accidents
and there was an even largerdrop in the number of cases of
Parvovirus distemper and othercanine diseases that come with
unhealthy dog populations.
That's only because we startedfocusing on neutering and
(25:47):
vaccinating, and when wevaccinate, we vaccinate for all
the canine diseases as well asrabies.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Wow, congratulations.
Thank you.
And in Hyderabad is Blue Crossthe only shelter, or are there
any more?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I think there are almost 28 groups of animal
welfare people in Hyderabad.
Although the shelters may befive or six shelters, I haven't
been to them all but I do knowthat a large number of young
people want to start up newplaces and are looking for
(26:29):
spaces to collaborate with.
I met this young man Devan washis name and when he was in
engineering college he wasstudying aeronautical
engineering he had convinced hisengineering college to give him
space where he started kennelsfor abandoned dogs.
(26:50):
It was quite remarkable.
So there are lots of youngpeople like that, collaborating
with small spaces that they canfind to help the localised
animals they find locally.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And what are a few things my listeners can do to
help animals and support BlueCross.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
You could definitely visit your local animal shelter
and see how you can help them,because there is a great need
for people to understand how tocoexist with animals.
Visiting an animal sheltergives you that opportunity to
know how to be around animalsand how to support them.
(27:40):
If you can't adopt, I mean itwill be wonderful to adopt a
homeless animal.
But in case you are living in asmall apartment or your parents
are very busy travelling andyou go to school all day and you
don't have the time to adopt,at least you can go to a shelter
and you can walk the shelterdogs, help the shelter and
(28:02):
improve the quality of life ofthe shelter dogs.
Never, ever, take pictures withexotic wildlife.
I mean there is a lot ofcruelty in the world today with
people being fascinated to takepictures with wildlife and that
causes a lot of trauma andanxiety and those animals are
(28:25):
kept in captivity and it's quitea miserable life they lead for
that one photograph.
There are many, many ways tohelp animals, but your first
starts with a visit to a shelter.
Our shelter has a specialprogram for children and on
(28:46):
Saturdays, if you visit ourshelter, we give a nice
presentation on all the wayschildren can help animals and it
starts with a tour of theshelter, knowing all the
different animals and the issuesthat they face.
What time does it start?
(29:07):
It starts around 10, between 10and 11 am.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Okay, wonderful.
Moving on to Anipurna College,can you share a little about
what the college does and alsoyour role here, sure?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So my father-in-law was a legendary actor, akineni
Nageshwar Rao.
He was one of the earlypioneers of the Telugu film
industry to set up the studio inHyderabad and bring the Telugu
cinema from Chennai to Hyderabad.
(29:45):
Until then, chennai was the hubof making films and my
father-in-law and many pioneerswith him at that time brought
the industry to Telangana.
The then Andhra Pradesh, whichwas the two states of Telangana
were one at the time Teluguspeaking states.
(30:08):
The studio was built about 45years ago and it was his dream.
After he built the studio andhe had his entire family working
to make films in the studio,his dream was to set up an
institution where they couldeducate filmmakers for the
(30:33):
future.
So it's not enough just to makefilms, but you must learn how
to make films, and that's howAnipurna College of Film and
Media started.
It is 12 years now and, as myfather-in-law passed away some
years ago, my family requestedme after his passing to take on
(30:55):
the responsibility of lookingafter the film and media college
.
So here I am, the director, andwe have 250 students in
different degree programslearning filmmaking.
There's a bachelor's degree.
There's a bachelor's degree inanimation and visual effects as
(31:16):
well.
There's a bachelor's degree infilmmaking.
There's a master's degree infilmmaking and there are lots of
short courses in all thedifferent crafts of cinema, of
filmmaking, and even in actingthere's a certificate course, an
intensive course of 5 months.
We have young people herefinding their way and learning
(31:39):
how to make films.
When you came in, we werewatching a mini series a set of
students have made.
It was an 8 episode series thatthey've made and it's about a
ghost.
So we were sitting hereenjoying it and they were
getting some feedback from thefaculty and this would be an
(32:03):
exam for them.
So they'll be getting theirmarks based on how the whether
they've been able to applyeverything they've learned from
their teachers and their facultyduring that course, how they've
applied it when making the miniseries.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, is it on animated series?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
No, it's a filmed one .
They've got actors and theyshot it in various parts of the
studio.
They'll be going on now totheir final semester, where
they'll make their graduationfilm.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So that's nice.
Maybe I can come here and tryto learn here sometime.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Oh, you're most welcome If that's interesting
for you.
I can see it's.
You're already comfortable withsound, right?
So every film, that doesn'tmatter how short and how long,
requires a soundtrack.
And the soundtrack, if it's themore powerful or the more
(33:07):
sensitive it is, the better theemotion of the scene, right?
So from the cameras hidden inthe actors' clothing and the set
to capturing it when they shoot, and then they have to clean it
up on the console and then theyadd the sound effects and then
(33:27):
they add the music, and thenthey layer the whole thing and
mix it, and then you get thisbeautiful soundtrack which just
elevates the whole film or theepisode to another level.
But it needs somebody with avery good year for sound, right?
So that's what you do with thesound.
(33:48):
And then, of course, you havethe writers.
If you're a writer, you'reinterested in reading and you're
a thinker, then you would writeand you would direct the
episode, and direction is also avery exciting thing.
Writing is an art and a craftby itself.
Or you have an interest incameras and visual storytelling.
(34:11):
Then you'd be a cinematographerand you learn all.
You become the camera, so youreyes become the camera and you
understand how to move aroundand tell the story in the most
exciting way right, visualstorytelling and you understand
the colors and the spaces andhow to use those spaces to tell
(34:35):
your story and bring that scriptalive.
After they film it then comesthe editor.
And the editor is like anotherdirector or another storyteller,
because they cut it up and theyarrange the whole thing in a
way that becomes really moreinteresting, like when do you
reveal to the audience that whodone it or what's happening
(34:59):
around the corner?
Am I going to tell you who'swaiting there?
Stop, I'll tell you nextepisode.
And then, of course, you havethe production, the producer,
the production team, becausethey have to arrange everything
and they're very good organizers, they're very good schedulers,
(35:21):
they think how to market it.
Who is our audience?
How am I going to raise thebudget?
How am I going to get things atthe least cost so that I don't
spend all the money on thingsthat I can't afford?
And they control everybody withthe budget.
And then they finally take it.
They know how to advertise itand do their social media
(35:43):
campaign to get the film or thecontent out there.
So these are all the maincrafts, but there's a lot more.
You learn the history of cinema.
You learn film studies.
You learn media laws, becausemedia laws are very strict now
and you have to learn so manydifferent things.
You learn a bit of documentaryand you learn environmental
(36:09):
science and the environmentalscience stories you tell through
documentary.
And you learn psychologypsychology how the audience
psychology and the storytellerpsychology and the young person
psychology to be happy insideand outside.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
And do you have any tips you can share for students
who are interested in our careerin film and media?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
It's a great time to think about it because it's one
of the industries that aregrowing at 22%.
That is growing at 22%, sothere are huge opportunities
opening up.
But, having said that, you haveto come with an education.
(37:02):
So the opportunities are there,but the training is very tough.
You have to go through thetraining and the craft and all
of that because it's heavilytechnology based.
You can't just show up and knowhow to use the equipment.
You can't just show up andexpect somebody to let you use
their equipment.
(37:22):
It takes a lot of training andskills with that.
Even if you train, it requiresthe attitude of an Olympic
sports person.
And I say Olympics becausemaking a film is like the
(37:42):
Olympics.
It's the most difficult thingyou would have done.
I didn't say it was acting.
Acting was easy.
Animal welfare was difficultfor me but I kept going because
I loved the animals and then itwas worth it.
(38:04):
Every difficulty I faced wasworth it and made me just do my
best In cinema, in filmmaking,it's tough because out of
nothing you have to create adream and you have to not just
tell a story that gives hope andengages your audience and
(38:27):
garner everybody's attention.
You have to make it all seemreal.
And it's tough, it's not easy,it's challenging, and to wake up
every day and do that kind ofchallenging work takes an
Olympian spirit.
So you need to be veryhardworking, you need to be very
(38:49):
passionate about tellingstories and you need to have a
good way with technology, youknow?
And if you have these threethings, then film is for you.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah well, film sounds really fun, Like it might
be a really really hard thingto do, but the end thing is
amazing, because I've watchedquite a few movies and it's
always amazing and the amount ofhard work they've done to make
(39:23):
it is all worth it, because it'sjust a piece of art Really.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Really Well said.
Well said, vedan.
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
I really, really enjoyed talking to you today.
Thank you so much for coming onthis show.
I really really enjoyedspeaking to you.
I learned a lot from it.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Thank you, vedan.
I've enjoyed sharing whatlittle I know about animal
welfare and cinema and actingand growing up, and I wish you
and your listeners you have awonderful 2024.
There are exciting thingshappening around the world and
(40:06):
there are difficult thingshappening around the world.
As much as there is opportunity, there's also a lot of
suffering, and I hope yourpodcast will give will share,
hope and guidance for youngpeople across the world.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you, vedan.
Thank you All the very best.
Thank you, and don't forget torate and leave comments.
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