The maker of 'Pushpak' rides on

Chennai, July 28 (IANS): Filmmaker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao completes 50 years in cinema this August.

The 72-year-old began his career in the industry with the Telugu film "Maya Bazaar" in 1954 and has not looked back since.

His most experimental work has been the silent film "Pushpak" with Kamal Haasan as an unemployed youth who tastes life and love in a five-star hotel by sheer chance. It also starred Tinnu Anand as a hired killer who keeps missing his quarry and Amala as Kamal Haasan's love interest.

Then there was "Aditya 369" in 1991, which was all about time machines and Lilliputians.

His last technology-based film was the Pentamedia Graphics' animation "Son of Aladdin".

He shot into the limelight with "Dikkatra Parvati", a film based on a story written by Tamil Nadu's elder statesman, C. Rajagopalachari. The film won its maker a national award.

He is at present working on a film with Kamal Haasan, which is being made both in Kannada and Tamil. It does not have a heroine "and is a thriller", he discloses.

Madhuri Dixit reportedly said 'no' to the project by quoting too high a fee.

Kamal Haasan has written the script, and the film is likely to be completed by August.

"Traffic Jam", another film in which Rao is involved, will be made in Tamil and Telugu and is also eagerly awaited.

A project he has been dreaming about for long is a musical with Javed Akhtar promising to write the lyrics.

Even today Singeetam Sreenavasa Rao is looking for "the right kind" of producers to back his boldly innovative projects.