Storytelling with a twist

Santosh Mohan Veeranki quit his job as a consultant for Air Bus in Europe and started ‘Tale Tellers Troupe India’ (TTTI) in 2015 to engage people in storytelling sessions to get rid their stage fear. Started with a group of friends, TTTI became a big success and is spread in many cities across India. Later, he started ‘Cinephiles Film Club’ (CFC) in 2016 to show the world cinema to the Hyderabad audience.

Speaking with The Hans India, Santosh shares what had driven him to start TTTI and CFC. “I was born and brought up in Pune, my family hails from Andhra Pradesh. We shifted to Pune 45 years ago. I did my Mechanical Engineering in the University of Pune. I started working as a consultant for Air Bus in Europe from 2004 to 2014. When I was in Air Bus, I met many people who travel all over the world and are attracted to world cinema,” Santosh said.

Sharing about why he started TTTI, he said “I worked for the Telugu film ‘Terror’ in 2015, later I used to write for director Ram Gopal Varma’s films. He liked one of my scripts and invited me to his office to narrate it. When I entered his office, Varma asked me to narrate the story in front of many film personalities.

That was the first time in my life that I narrated my story to people I never knew. RGV wanted me to direct that film but it hasn’t happened. I think my narration is not good as I had stage fear. I wanted to overcome the stage fear just not for myself but for everyone who faces it and started TTTI in 2015.”

Santosh stated that Hyderabad has no proper storytelling clubs compared to Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Chennai. “Hyderabad is a deep-rooted affinity and there is a lot of scope of doing many things. Three years back, there were no proper storytelling clubs in Hyderabad compared to cities.

In Hyderabad, if you go to any ‘Chai Bandi’ you can hear many stories over a cup of tea. I wanted to show the uniqueness of this city as well as to add something new into it and started TTTI,” he added.

Santosh informed that after every storytelling session, the audience gives an instant feedback to the narrators to improve narration, etc. He also started Cinephiles Film Club in Hyderabad, 2016 to show the world cinema to the local audience. “Technically, Telugu Film Industry is doing great but it’s lacking good content. I started CFC to show the great works of world cinema to inspire the local talent.

We screen movies from Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Africa, Romania, Russia, et al every week. Till now, we have screened more than 60 films. Before screening every film, we give a brief introduction of the film to the audience and why the film was made and what were the conditions of the country at that point of time and what is the context. After the screening, we discuss the film from the audience point of view. We invite them to suggest any better changes for the film,” Santosh shared.

Santosh also started TTTI in Bengaluru and Mumbai. “TTTI has changed lives of many people. Our main aim is to make India without stage fear by 2026. Don’t let stage fear stop you to achieve your goal,” Santosh concluded.

By V Sateesh Reddy