I had a very skewed view of movie producers and that reflected on my perception of Sunitha Tati when I first learned that she is a movie producer. I imagined her to be a filthy rich lady that funded Tollywood productions while comfortably lounging around and doing little. When we spoke, Suntiha told me about her next project in pipeline and mentioned that she had Samantha, the Telugu movie goers' sweetheart committed to play Bebakka, the protagonist in a remake of the Korean film Miss.Granny and another successful woman that made a mark in Tollywood world, Nandini reddy directing the film and the famous Suresh Productions co-producing it with her.
"I watched Miss.Granny" I proclaimed with pride, as it was indeed a happy coincidence that I did watch a Korean film of all films in the few countable films I watched in my lifetime.
"You are only the second person that had watched it so far, that I spoke to" She beamed with happiness, flashing her characteristic grin while her twinkling eyes shone a tad more. We spoke about the script in length and I promptly got back to watching it again, after our conversation.
While in India, I had the opportunity to be in the background of all the pre-production work Sunitha took up from casting to re-imagining the script to make it resonate with a regional audience. I watched her grit and resolve in utter awe. While she 'flight hopped' from Korea to Mumbai to Hyderabad in what looked like a tiring infinite loop, I was in the background too speechless to even cheer her. This woman was just about to redefine everything 'creative' for me. It was then that the haze surrounding my 'film producer' stereotype started to clear up. Not just that but I had a new paradigm to ambition, dreaming and manifesting our desires to create.
What ensued were some of the most important and intense lessons I learned, all while having the privilege of Sunitha's company. I saw her oversee the smallest of details, making plans and plan Bs for the unforeseen and roping in technicians and supporting cast to get the film rolling. She executed all of this with a single minded focus on what was to be addressed at that moment. For me she kicked up worldly dreams to a spiritual level. The way she stood unfazed, never for once doubting her faith in the script or the execution process, never once succumbing to the pressures of film making, never once dismissing a nobody like me and including me in her creative journey is something that is awe inspiring. Her focus and energies were always in the 'NOW' doing what needed to be done. No job was too small for her, no detail too trivial. If this isn't a meditative state of executing a worldly task, I wouldn't know what really is!
"We need to give form to our thoughts" She would look at me intently and say. "Unless we create something out of our thoughts, they remain what they are - thoughts!"
There are numerous labels one could use to describe Sunitha - Film Producer, Spiritual seeker, entrepreneur, professional, Cancer survivor - but she stands alone as a woman of substance, not letting any one label define or confine her. She is a doer in a talking world, she doesn't let her work get hindered by any inward or outward impediments whatsoever. Like they say - 'If there's a will, there's a way!' and she probably could be a poster child for that adage and a perfect brand ambassador for all those spiritual discourses that point in one direction - that all we have is this moment and we need to do what needs to be done now without dwelling in the illusion of the past or future. Then dear people, we have the walkers such as Sunitha who walk the talk!
When I saw the trailer of "Oh Baby" I couldn't have been more sure about how laborious this production was for Miss. Tati - a production that could be compared with bringing a baby to this world after a lengthy gestation, and that my friends, is mothering at a whole new level. A level that I am very happy to have understood, thanks to being a fellow traveler with Sunitha Tati for the past so many months.
Oh! Baby is scheduled to a world wide release on the 5th of July 2019. Please go and catch it on the big screen and be prepared to be entertained and get smiling, laughing and welling up. It is a very unique and fresh perspective of a story that is worth it for what it portrays and for all the sincerity, effort and faith Sunitha and her team invested into the making of this film. I am sure all the honesty and hard work would reflect in the movie's every frame.
Here's wishing the Oh!Baby team a tremendous success!
May Doers Prevail!