Why did you title the film as Rainbow?
This story is about a girl who aims at a colorful life. This story is about a guy who lives in colors. Rainbow talks about the conflict between colors of love (heart) and the colors of life (mind). That is how this movie relates itself to colors. I wanted to title it as 'Colors' first, but it was already taken by Bheemineni Srinivasa Rao. Then I thought about Harivillu and this title is registered by D Rama Naidu for the next ten years. I thought of going for 'Indra Dhanassu' and realized that most of the youth does not even know what it is. Then it suddenly stuck me that I could title it as Rainbow. Rainbow is a cusp between rain and heat. My film is also a cusp between the mind and the heart.

How did you arrive at the cast of this film?
I narrated this story to a big hero on behalf of a big producer. That hero liked it immensely, but kept a condition that I should do it with any other producer. I backed out from that hero as I did not want to betray my beloved producer. My NRI friends liked the story and they wanted to chip into production. They also studied in Siddhardha College, Vijayawada along with me. Hence we named our banner as 'Sri Siddhardha Movies'. After deciding to produce the film on my own, I approached another big hero. He too liked the story a lot and said that it is the sweetest story he ever heard, but expressed doubts about my ability to release the film as I am the producer. I offered him the market rate which he charged for his last film as remuneration. But he backed out as he was doubtful about my financial resources.

Raahul: That is when Happy Days was released and I liked Raahul's work in that film. During the development of dialogue version time, I asked editor Marthand K Venkatesh to suggest any new guy for Rainbow film. He recommended Raahul and said that he looks better outside than in Happy Days film. I approached Raahul and gave full narration of the subject in Chutneys hotel. And I could convert the same story onto the celluloid without any changes, except for minor dialogue improvisations.

Sonal Chauhan: Since I took Raahul as hero, I decided to cast a fresh girl as heroine instead of going for any established and senior heroine. I got hold of Sonal Chauhan photos from Mahesh Bhatt's office. He was making Jannat film with Sonal as heroine. I flew with Raahul to Mumbai and had a joint photo shoot of Raahul and Sonal Chauhan to make sure that they make a good on-screen pair. We did the photo shoot in actress Ankita's residence. And Ankita's mom said that they make an extraordinary pair. I cast Sonal as main heroine.

Sindhu Menon: Sindhu Menon was one of the girls auditioned for main heroine role. There is a special character in the film and I narrated it to her. And she accepted that character on one condition. I will reveal the condition after the film is released.

Music director: I told lyricist Chandrabose about my home production and asked his suggestion about music director. He asked me to go ahead with a new guy. But later I decided to approach Keeravani. I gave the bound script to Keeravani at the time when he was doing the rerecording of Pandurangadu. It was there for seven days and almost all technicians of Keeravani crew read it and discussed animatedly about it. But Keeravani was completely tied up for his next projects. He said that I should go for a new music director who stays along with me and gives me lot of time. I asked singer Sunitha for a suggestion. She said that her singer brother Nihal has got very good tune bank and I could try him. We went to for dinner to 'Ista' and Nihal sang me the tune of 'Aasa Chinni Aasa'. I liked it and asked him to give a variety of his tunes in a CD. He gave 15 tunes and I picked up 5 tunes from that CD. It means that Nihal composed 5 tunes even before listening to this script. Only tune he composed after movie started was 'Challu Challu' (Holi song).

Cinematographer: Cameraman Shiva traveled with me for a few films and we shared great work chemistry. He narrated a subject for Nagarjuna as hero for Kamakshi banner and he was also trying to direct a Tamil film with Vijay as hero. I realized that he is interested in becoming director and it is not fair for me to ask him to be cinematographer for my film though he would not refuse if I asked him. I asked him to recommend me a good guy and he recommended Santosh Srinivas. He worked as main operative cameraman for Ajay Vincent in the past. He also worked as cinematographer for a few films like Khatarnak, Takkari etc. And it was Santosh Srinivas who recommended cinematographer Siva to hero Gopichand and they made Souryam.

Art Director: Art director Anand Sai is more like a family friend to me. I asked for his help and he gladly came forward to be a part of Rainbow for a reasonable remuneration. He did amazing work in erecting sets at Saradhi studios.

Choreographer: I wanted Suchitra Chandrabose to choreograph all songs in Rainbow. I narrated the story of Manasantha Nuvve by going to her home. When I phoned her about it, she remembered that she had mehendi a day before narration of Manasantha Nuvve. She asked me to come the next day so that she could keep mehendi again. She is like a sister to me. She liked the script immensely.

Story: The basic story idea of the film is given by Balabhadrapatruni Ramani. It was Paruchuri brothers and I who worked on the development of story.

How did the shooting go?
It went of very efficiently. We shot the entire film in 59 working days. We shot the first schedule at a stretch in 30 days which includes the shoot of four songs. Then we went to Bangkok to shoot a couple of songs. Then we had another schedule for 10 days. The total runtime of the film is 2:05 hours. It is going to be short and sweet.

Raahul is saying that the concept of Rainbow was never seen in any Indian films?
Concept films on rare in Telugu films. Nuvvu Vastavani is such film among the love stories. Ghazani is another concept film in masses. Aparichitudu is a concept film on psychology. Likewise there is a unique concept in this film that was never seen in any Indian films so far.

You are saying it's never seen in Indian films. Does that mean it is there in any Hollywood or world cinema?
I specifically said about Indian cinema because, I have complete grip and knowledge about most of the Indian cinemas. I am not used to Hollywood and world cinema flicks. I am the wrong person when it comes to getting inspired by foreign cinema.

How did you treat the film?
The film has got different tone. If you look at Sekhar Kammula's Anand film, he made the regular commercial story of Dushman film into Anand by giving a natural treatment and refreshing feel. Rainbow too will have such unique treatment.

What is the reason behind roping four directors to act in Rainbow?
We needed real directors for a few scenes of the film. If I made actors appear as directors it will not have any impact. Hence I requested four directors and they obliged me. The performance of Rajamouli is going to be highlight in the film. I have seen such a dedication and commitment in actors like Kamal Hassan, Prakash Raj and Vikram.

What is the reason for the delay of Rainbow film?
We had to wait for the dates of Sonal Chauhan for two months in between the shoot as she had to go for a worldwide tour on Jannat promotion. We also had to wait for Prakash Raj.

The film nagar is abuzz that Raahul is funding the film. Is it true?
It is the heights of stupidity. Becoming a producer is my dream, but I am not such a nasty person who realizes ones dream at the cost of Raahul's money. All the technicians worked for me with passion. They would not have done that favor if Raahul had given the money. I used all my good will in film industry to get lot of work done.

Can you tell us how you raised the money?

1. NRI Friends' money (25%): I started off the shoot with money provided by four of my NRI friends.
2. Bharat Arts productions (25%): Venkata Ramana and Yogesh Patel were interested in producing a film with me. I roped both of them.
3. Satellite rights (20%): I sold the satellite rights of the film to Sakhamuri Mallikharjuna Rao and spent all the money in producing the film.
4. My money (30%): I raised the remaining money on my personal guarantee to finish this film. I am the biggest share holder in the production.

There are rumors that singer Sunita is also one of the producers?
She is a family friend and distant relative even before both of us ventured into films. Her husband is one of the executive producers of the film. I requested the father of Sunita to be the financial controller of the film as I need somebody from outside the industry to look at the finances. Hence Sunita treated Rainbow like her family production. That could be the basis for the rumor.

What kind of openings you are expecting for Rainbow?
Nobody knows exactly why a film gets good/bad openings. It is the trickiest thing. Hence I concentrated a lot on publicity and promotion of Rainbow. I made sure that it got plenty eye balls in all kinds of media (print, TV, web and outdoor). Raahul has tremendous craze among the girls with Happy Days and Sonal Chauhan won the hearts of men with Jannat. I am expecting youth to throng to theaters with this combination. Music by Nihal is a chartbuster everywhere with websites and FM stations promoting it aggressively. I am expecting grand openings to Rainbow because of the above mentioned reasons.

Are you not tensed about clashing with high profile film like Chintakayala Ravi?
Chintakayala Ravi was scheduled to release on 1st and shifted to 2nd in the last minute. And it was beyond my control. I feel that a small film will always have an advantage while releasing with a big film because the overflows of big film will fall into the coffers of a small film. A guy who come to theater to watch a film would automatically go to another film if could not manage tickets.

Tell us about Rainbow release?
I am releasing the film on my own through Siri Media with 27 prints in 35 theaters. I also sent two prints to USA for a simultaneous release over there.

Other Interviews
• Nallamalupu Bujji (Producer)
• Uday Kiran (Actor)
• Chandra Sekhar (Actor)
• Raahul (Actor)
• Dil Raju (Producer)
• Gopichand (Actor)
• Siva (Souryam director)
• Venkatesh (Actor)
• Mamata Mohandas (Actress)
• Lakshmi Lahari (Actress)
• Ramesh Varma (Director)
• Samudra (Director)
• Yogesh (Director)
• Neha Thota (Child actress)
• Srinivas Avasarala (Actor)
• Uday Kiran (Actor)
• Kanmani (Director)
• Ram Gopal Varma (Director)
• PG Vinda (Cinematographer)
• Madan (Director)
• Bhavana (Heroine)
• Bhargava (Producer)
• Hari Yelleti (Director)
• Krishnudu (Actor)
• Kishore Ganji (Producer)
• Ram Mohan (Producer)
• Salim Panda (Actor)
• Surekha Vani (Actress)
• Manjari Fadniz (Actress)
• Vishal (Actor)
• A Raja Sekhar (Director)
• Sridevi (Actress)
• Sayaji Shinde (Actor)
• Viswa Tej (Actor)
• Geetha Madhuri (Playback Singer)
• Namitha (Actress)
• Sneha Ullal (Actress)
• Prem Kumar Patra (Producer)
• GV Prakash (Music director)
• Mohana Krishna Indraganti (Director)
• Bharat (Child actor)
• Malini Dasari (Cinematographer)
• Rama Jogaiah Sastry (Lyricist)
• Venkat (Hero)
• Uday Kiran (Hero)
• Sharwanand (Hero)
• Ram (Hero)
• Aditi Sharma (Heroine)
• Nagur Babu (Mano) (Singer)
• Sekhar Suri (Director)
• Sindhu Menon (Heroine)
• Vinu Thomas (Music director)
• Nihal (Music director & Singer)
• Nitin (Hero)
• Smita (Pop singer)
• Sonal Chauhan (Actress)
• Raghu Kunche (Singer)
• Udaya Bhanu (Anchor)
• Meher Ramesh (Director)
• Rao Ramesh (Actor)
• Gopi Mohan (Writer)
• Ajay Sastri (Director)
• Vara Mullapudi (Director)
• Bhumika Chawla (Actress)
• Jagapati Babu (Actor)
• Vijay C Kumar (Cinematographer)
• Sekhar Kammula (Director)