Amma Cheppindi

Amma Cheppindi (English: "Mother Said So") is a 2006 Tollywood drama film written, screenplay, dialogues and direction by Gangaraju Gunnam. Sharwanand, Shriya Reddy and Suhasini play the lead roles while Nagendra Babu and Pavan Malhotra play supporting roles. M. M. Keeravani provided the music and background score for the film, cinematography was by Gunnam's son Sandeep and, editing by Mohan Rama Rao.
Plot.
Bose (Sharwanand) is a mentally underdeveloped youngster. His family includes his father who is a scientist in a rocket center; his mother (Suhasini) who dotes on him; and his academically bright brother. Bose is considered to be dumb in the residential township, and he is looked down upon. When Inter-Services Intelligence plans to bomb the rocket center during a prominent event, Bose helps the township and the country with his heroic deed as his token of appreciation to his doting mother.
Production.
Pre-production.
Gunnam's previous films "Little Soldiers" (1996), "Aithe" (2003) and "Anukokunda Oka Roju" (2005) could not garner much at the box-office. In an interview, he said that he "could not connect with larger section of audiences." However, he expressed optimism that the viewership has increased for his last two movies. While he produced the last two, his last directorial venture was "Little Soldiers" back in the nineties. This hiatus, according to him, was neither optional nor intentional but, it was either due to lack of funds or lack of offers to direct films. It was only after his friend who began a production house, Just Yellow Productions, he ventured into production.
For "Amma Cheppindi", the short story "Flowers for Algernon" that Gunnam read a long time ago, provided him with the necessary ideas. However, he said that the film's final screenplay is not similar to that story. The script for the film was written six years before filmmaking, even before his last two production ventures were conceptualized. Despite this, the script remained the same.
Casting.
Urmila Gunnam, the director's wife and producer for the film was responsible for selecting the cast for the film.
The Gunnams noticed Sharwanand in "Vennela" (2005) and called him to discuss about this project. After a screen test, he was selected for the role of "Bose". After Sharwanand was selected after a long and futile search, director Gunnam said that he could not imagine any one else performing that role.
About Suhasini, who plays the mother of the protagonist, Gunnam was initially hesitant about her being too young and slim to play a mother's role. However, he appreciated her performance and termed it as one of the most natural ones seen in recent times. Gunnam said that Sriya Reddy performance was one of the rarest seen by a Telugu actress in a while.
Music.
Amma Cheppindi songs were composed by M. M. Keeravani.
Reviews.
Reviews were generally positive. One review said that Sharwanand "should feel lucky to get this role in the beginning of his career that has given him scope to come up with an award winning performance." Though the review wrote well about the music, dialogues, story and depiction of emotional scenes, the editing, screenplay and direction was hoped to have been better. Another review said that though the pace of the film was slow in the beginning, the performance by the cast and the technical departments was good.