Kona Venkat has strong words for directors who shoot excessive footage and later throw away a major portion of it during editing. He calls them “criminals” in the film industry, questioning the crores of rupees spent on scenes that never make it to the final film.
A film’s budget is not just about what audiences see on screen. Every scene that gets shot involves money, from the actors and technicians to locations, production arrangements and several other expenses. When much of that footage is eventually discarded, the money spent on it goes down the drain. For producers, who bear the financial burden, this is a costly problem.
There is nothing wrong with editing scenes that do not work even good films can lose footage before release. But shooting without proper planning and leaving the editor to remove large chunks later is a different matter. That is where Kona Venkat’s criticism hits hard.
Producers are expected to watch every rupee, especially when a film’s success is uncertain. Directors, should also need to be mindful on how their decisions affect the budget. If footage is never going to serve the film, why spend crores shooting it in the first place?
