“I was confident that I could count on my painting skills,” says Pravalya Duddupudi, whereas discussing a tough patch in her skilled sphere when she seemed for freelance work as an artist to complement her revenue. The Hyderabad-based multi-disciplinary artist, expert in calligraphy, portray, sculpture and inside design, made the viewers and the Telugu movie trade be aware of her manufacturing design for the movie Gaami. Her work didn’t finish with designing practically a dozen sets. The movie’s title emblem, symbolic of the yin and yang of the circle of life, and the calligraphy of textual content inserts resembling ‘14 days to malapatra (magic mushrooms)’, accompanied by imagery, have been her handiwork.
In a freewheeling dialog at a restaurant in Hyderabad, Pravalya talks about dealing with a number of tasks fuelled by the inventive urge. “For a year, I barely slept a few hours. I had a day job (at an interior design firm) and worked on the film late evenings and nights. The dopamine rush kept me going. I don’t know if I can pull off something like that again, unless a script interests me.”
The 28-year-old is amongst the handful of feminine manufacturing designers in Telugu cinema. Gaami was the first movie she signed, and because it had been in the making for a couple of years, the movies she took on later, Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam and Ustaad, have been launched earlier.
Artistic leanings
Pravalya says her creative inclination got here naturally since her grandfather used to color and her father is adept at calligraphy. Her father being in the Indian Army, she spent her childhood in numerous cities earlier than they moved to Visakhapatnam. Though she took the entrance examination for MBBS, she knew she was not lower out for it.
Around that point, she learnt about the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). “Initially, I did not discuss it with my parents. But I had to tell them when I had to travel to Hyderabad for the final tests and counselling. They were concerned if the fashion industry would be appropriate for me.” It took some prodding and convincing, with the assist of a detailed relative, they usually relented. They have been additionally apprehensive when she started engaged on movie sets. “Today, they are proud of what I have done for Gaami.”
Pravalya remembers her first expertise of designing a movie set in 2019. She was simply out of NIFT Hyderabad, the place she was in the way of life and equipment design division. “My friend (actor) Aditi Myakal said the film unit she was working for was looking for someone to design a set. I met the producer, who told me they needed a set that looked like the interiors of a club but had a limited budget. I designed it in three days.” It opened new doorways. Karthik Sabareesh, the producer of Gaami, met her on the sets and later requested if she would work on his movie.
The hand-drawn strategy
“I knew nothing about the film industry and did not know whom to trust,” says Pravalya. She visited Karthik’s workplace and observed that it was teeming with males. She was nervous till she met director Vidyadhar Kagita and his co-writer Pratyush. “From the images they had, I understood they were onto something different. I noticed a printed map that shows Vishwak Sen the direction to the magical mushrooms in the Himalayas. A printed map was not in synergy with the world they were trying to create. I offered to give them a hand painted, dyed and aged map.” Then, she labored on a scroll and a ebook they handed her. Impressed together with her creative expertise, the workforce requested if she may assist design and assemble sets for the movie.
Snapshots of Pravalya’s calligraphy and work for the textual content inserts in the movie ‘Gaami’
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Special Arrangement
The journey appeared creatively difficult however there was a stumbling block. Pravalya wanted a gentle revenue to repay her scholar mortgage and for her paying visitor lodging in Hyderabad. “Since Gaami began as a crowdfunded indie film, they could not pay me monthly. So, I decided to keep my day job and work on the film in the evenings and nights.”
The icebreaker between her and the core workforce of Gaami was after they designed the monastery set collectively. “It was just me, Pratyush, Vidyadhar, Karthik and two assistant directors. I also read the script and was blown away.”
Notes from ‘Game of Thrones’
As the movie progressed, Pravalya employed the manpower required for the duties. One of the first challenges was to design a frozen waterfall to movie the visible results parts of the Himalayas. She needed to design a 30×15-foot waterfall. She researched the supplies required and likewise pored over interviews of Deborah Riley, manufacturing designer of Game of Thrones, for additional data. She hit a lifeless finish. She then contacted Deborah via LinkedIn. “To my surprise, she responded in a day. She said my research was in the right direction and told me about a Canada-based firm that works on ice sets for Hollywood films. That she responded to a beginner like me boosted my confidence.” The Gaami workforce didn’t have the sources to rope in the companies advised by Deborah, however Pravalya executed the process with the assist of NIFT college students.
One of the ice cave sets designed by Pravalya for the movie
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Special Arrangement
The lockdown of 2020 modified the course of issues. “I decided to leave my interior design job since my pay was halved. Thanks to Instagram, I landed a few freelance assignments. I designed murals and sculptures on order and helped people revamp their homes. I also conducted a few art workshops. The income was not steady, but it helped.”
Meanwhile, for Gaami, she learnt to reuse and repurpose sure supplies to chop down expenditure. Constructing the sets for the unlawful medical facility with its claustrophobic cell, lobotomy lab and slim corridors was essential. Trial and error helped get the weathered look. She roped in a mason from the development trade, oversaw the mixing of cement and sand to get the grainy texture for the partitions of the cell of the character CT-333 (performed by Mohammad Samad). She then combined the paints herself. “It had to look grunge. So, for each colour, for example, green, I would mix five different shades of green, dilute it, and splash mugs of paint on the walls. The way it trickles down would create uneven textures, as though the wall has witnessed water seepage.”
Immovable partitions
Pravalya’s sketches for the design of the remedy chair in the medical facility in ‘Gaami’
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Special Arrangement
The claustrophobic interiors are because of Pravalya eschewing the use of movable partitions, even when it meant restricted area for the movie crew. “If the edges don’t blend, it is a giveaway that it is a set. It had to look real. I would check the monitor and exit the sets and the shooting would progress with just the actors required for a scene, the director, the director of photography (Vishwanath Reddy) and a focus puller.” The hall, she provides, was designed to be a bit of over six toes excessive, barely accommodating the character of Mojo, to offer the phantasm of him being imposing.
As appreciation continues to return her manner since the movie’s launch, Pravalya is hopeful she will get to design sets with an inventive contact. “Sometimes people are sceptical about whether I can handle male-centric crews with my soft-spoken nature. I don’t think it is necessary to raise my voice to make my point.”
There are different plans as nicely: “Some day, I want to create a public installation that would outlive me and be considered a monument.”