TRIVIKRAM SRINIVAS- WIZARD OF WORDS
Trivikram Srinivas (Akella Naga Srinivasa Sharma) is an Indian film screenwriter, dialogue writer and advertising and film director known for his works exclusively in Telugu cinema. Regarded as the “Wizard Of Words” ,”Maatala Maanthrikudu” in Telugu.
95–2000 pentad was a time in Tollywood where dialogues in movies were written in a certain tone and texture. Humor being a part and parcel of mainstream Telugu cinema, there was always a room for a parallel crass comedy track, absurd tongue in cheek liners, unwelcomed double entendres as a deliberate attempt to tickle funny bones of the audience. This was something the then audience was accustomed to and had no qualms in embracing it and a little to whine about.
Then came to the fore a writer named Trivikram Srinivas whose writings were not just out stood out from the usual lot but also had a bigtime impact on the audience and more particularly the youth. After a brief stint as an assistant to Posani Krishna Murali, Trivikram was introduced as a independent writer through the movie Swayamvaram. From there he went on to pen story and dialogues for a plethora of movies like Chirunanavvutho, Nuuvue Naku Nachav, Nuvve Kavali , Mallishwari, Manmadhudu etc that ran successfully at the box office solely because of his brilliant writing. He revived the style of writing in mainstream Telugu movies through his crisp, clipped and cutting to the chase dialogues . This adopted style of his made his words hard hitting and left them lingering in our minds . On one end of the spectrum, his lines are lucid and offer subtle humour and traverse graduating towards the other end to poke the brains and provoke thoughts. Till then it was not so common to write slice of life conversations in an engaging and amusing repartee. If not for him, today’s everyday interactions would still have remained bland and vapid. His wittiness and wisdom are ubiquitous in his dialogues. Thanks to his voracious reading proclivity.
He strikes a chord with the audience with his lighter-vein and breezy story lines that are relatable and identifiable. The best part of his writings is that his dialogues come across as a byproduct of the concoction of various philosophies he has read over the years and does not reiterate a favourite writer or philosopher’s quotes alone. When it comes to alliteration (Praasa in Telugu) Trivikram Srinivas is not the trailblazer but is certainly adroit in using the practice in an organic way to elicit humour. His philosophy is mostly borrowed from the Indian mythological epics- Ramyanam, Mahabharatham which he regards as our roots of philosophy. He never misses a chance to render the reference of the epics in his movies through his dialogue lines. Perhaps he wants us to look beyond the surface and layers of the epic tales to understand the deeply entrenched philosophy in them. Trivikram also believes that he has nothing new to say to the audience and everything has already been said by the ancient sages and veteran writers and he is only taking the onus on him to remind us about them. Looking at Trivikram as an accomplished and path-breaking writer, it would be ironical to learn that he never wanted to become a writer, despite possessing the flair for writing and always wanted to become a director. His natural inclination for writing made him a writer which indirectly introduced to filmmaking craft. His writing role was a conscious attempt to learn direction & master the craft being in the shoes of a writer. True to his conviction he became a seasoned filmmaker in no time and his direction was applauded by critics and audience alike for the style and technical finesse.
Considering his gift of the gab, it is very apt to call him Maatala Manthirkudu (Wizard of words), a moniker coined by his fans. As the moniker says, his words are truly magical and mesmerizing. He also is called Guruji for his modern gurukul kind of wisdom that he imparts to the youth. Apart from the writing streak, his sedative nature, his demeanour,his articulation of thoughts while addressing media and crowd won him more praises and fans. Even till today, his speech about Sirivennela Seetharama Shasthri remains a goosebumps moment. The speech opened the vent to his emotional state and depth of thought.
When asked about successes and failures, Trivikram says he takes them in his own stride. He enjoys successes like anyone else, for the intrinsic value it contains and at the same time he believes that he possesses the strength to embrace failure and bounce back.
Let us join together to wish Guruji a very happy birthday and wish him more success and health in life.
