Sreekaram shows that farming can be a viable profession for Gen Next: Sharwanand

Cinema is often used as a tool to highlight important issues while telling a story, and the Sharwanand-starrer Sreekaram brings the issue of farming to the forefront. Director Kishore Reddy says the story has been penned based on real incidents that he witnessed while growing up in an agricultural family in Tirupati.

“Most parents would want their children to follow in their footsteps, except for farmers. I’ve seen it time and again that farmers are unhappy if their children leave, what are thought to be stable jobs, to take up agriculture,” says Kishore, adding, “While many films reinstate the importance of farming as an occupation, I wanted to go beyond that and explore the family dynamics too.”

By contrast, the film’s lead actor Sharwanand had a completely different upbringing, having been born and raised in a city. But the actor says he was moved by the story when Kishore narrated it. “As an actor, I feel it’s my responsibility to be part of such films. Stories like the one explored in Sreekaram are rare and the film truly opened my eyes. Pandinche vallu takkuva aipoyaru, tine vallu ekhuva aipoyaru (there are not enough farmers to feed the growing population) and sadly that’s the truth. This film made me believe that farming is truly a viable profession for Gen Next that can and should be taken up. I hope the audience feels the same after watching it,” the actor says.

Produced by Ram Achanta and Gopi Achanta under 14 Reels Plus, Sreekaram releases today.