“Inspired by Hitchcock movies, I did ‘Anveshana’. I watched his Psycho in Producer Edida Nageswara Rao garu’s PCR. I watched all of his 53 movies. My office walls are filled with his impressions. Pulagam Chinnarayana knew this. A movie needs 3 things, Script…Script…Script said Hitchcock once. Writing a book about such a legend is indeed a wonderful attempt. The Authors of the book Pulagam Chinnarayana and Ravi Padi are very close to me. I was thrilled by the first copy of this book” said Director Vamsy garu.
On the occasion of Alfred Hitchcock’s 125th birthday and the 100th anniversary of his first film, Senior Journalist, Writer Pulagam Chinnarayana and IRS officer Ravi Padi have unveiled their book on Hitchcock’s life. Titled as “Master of Suspense Hitchcock”, this book has 62 essays by 45 directors, 7 writers and 10 journalists.
Renowned director Vamsy launched the book and handed over the first copy to director Harish Shankar, second copy was handed to Senior Actor Nassar. ‘Santhosham’ magazine head Suresh Kondeti bought the first copy for five thousand rupees. The cover page of the book was designed by popular Publicity Designer, Raghupathi Venkaiah Award winner Eshwar. The cover page frame was unveiled by Director Mohanakrishna Indraganti. Director Harish Shankar revealed the publisher’s Akshouhini Media logo.
“Master of Suspense Hitchcock” book launch event was graced by Senior Actor Nassar, Director Meher Ramesh, Director Mohanakrishna Indraganti, Veerashankar (Telugu Director’s Association President), Chandra Siddhartha, Shiva Nageswara Rao, Karuna Kumar, Vara Mullapudi, Devi Prasad, Sunil Kumar Reddy, Sai Kishore Maccha, Ramesh Samala, Sriman Vemula and others. Also, Senior writer Thota Prasad, Senior Journalist Prabhu, Subbarao, Prasanna Pradeep, Vaddu Om Prakash, Jalapathy and others also attended the event.
Director Vamsy says, “I’m very fond of Hitchcock. The thought of writing a book about his life and his works is wonderful. As far as I know, this is the first ever literary attempt ever done in an Indian language. The content looks amazing and I wish it should have a reprint very soon”.
Director Harish Shankar says, “We’re unlucky, we’ve seen Hitchcock’s movies but not him. Luckily, we could see his impression in Telugu movies through Vamsy garu. Most of the people compare Vamsy garu with Hitchcock and even call him Andhra Hitchcock. For me, I believe Hitchcock is Hollywood’s Vamsy. I feel blessed to receive the first copy of this book from him. I’ve been part of this Book by sharing my analysis on one of his movies. In the times of social media and genZ, book readers are angels and authors are close to gods. Pulagam Chinnarayana always speaks movies. Maybe, he was a director once in his previous life and could be one in the next, trying to avoid the competition already I didn’t say he should try in this life. We rarely see books on movies. Pulagam Chinnarayana has been consistently striving to bring people’s interest in book reading by writing about film industry, directors, songs and everything about movies and I bow to his passion. I wish this book would celebrate success meet like a movie and turn into Hyderabad’s Best seller. I will try to reach this book to as many people as I can. There’s always a doubt on readers’interest in books but let me remind that a guy did a Phd on Vamsy garu’s ‘Pasalapudi Kathalu’ book and its multiple reprints back then shows how many avid readers we have around us. Hollywood has a huge book bank and novels to rely on for phenomenal movies. Be it Harry Potter or any other classic, they were inspired and adapted from the books. They embrace and encourage literature, thus it implies in their films too”.
Director Mohanakrishna Indraganti says, “From silent films to dubbed ones, Hitcock has etched his mark on world cinema through his work. He believed that dialogue should be used in the scenes when visuals cannot translate the content. His Vertigo, Psycho, Blackmail movies are phenomenal. His words of perception on usage of the sound inspired and guided millions. His Birds film doesn’t have a background score. He constantly pushed himself beyond boundaries of filmmaking and set a benchmark at every step. Interestingly, he never got an Oscar. Writing a book on such a legend is a wonderful attempt by Pulagam garu and Ravi garu. Pulagam garu maintained quality of content and intent unlike other biography books. My family has asked for the copies of this book already and I’m buying a bunch of them now”.
Senior Actor Nassar says, “We’ve a shortage of books about movies. There was one book during my film school days which we treated like a Bible. There’s a book on French critic Trupho’s interview with Hitchcock, it was one of the best ones I read. I’m glad to be here at the launch event today and happy to see Pulagam Chinnarayana, Ravi Padi’s wonderful work on Hitchcock’s movies.
Director Meher Ramesh says, “I met Pulagam Chinnarayana garu through Puri Jagannath. He’s always been there for us since “Badri”. He used to share a lot of information and knowledge with us. I’ll make sure this book reaches maximum people through me”.
Director Shiva Nageswara Rao says, “I was betting on Vamsy garu’s silence here with Harish Shankar but Vamsybgaru spoke and Harish won. Vamsy garu’s words about hitchcock shows how much he’s fond of him and his work. Pulagam made me write an Article on this Book and I’m thankful to him and Ravi Padi garu for it”.
Pulagam Chinnarayana previously wrote 10 books namely, Jandhya Marutham, Aanaati Aanavaallu, Cine Poornodayam, Swarnayuga Sangeetha Darshakulu, Pasidi Thera, Cinema Venuka Storeelu, Maya Bazar, Madhura Smruthulu,vVendi Chandamamalu, Jai Vittalacharya and Master of Suspense Hitchcock is his 11th work. He even won Two Nandi Awards as Best Author and one more as the Best Critic.
