It was the soul and theme of the movie: Sri Priyatham on making Nani's `Shyam Singha Roy' portrait

Sri Priyatham, an artist from Hyderabad, is popular for a lot of things. His career took off after he drew the portrait of Nani as Shyam Singha Roy in the movie with the same title.

The portrait has gone viral on social media. The actor and crew shared the portrait which was liked by one and all. Earlier, he worked for Netflix's Stranger Things Season 3.

Of the 16 artists shortlisted by Netflix, Sri Priyatham was the only one from India. He drew Hopper from episode 5 of season 2 as part of the season three promo.

Priyatham started his career as a freelancer 13 years ago. Later he started taking up various projects with ad agencies and production houses. He also took up commissioned projects from across the globe. And now, he even conducts international workshops.

In an exclusive chit-chat with the NewsMeter, he shared his life journey. Excerpts:

How did this project 'Shyam Singha Roy' come to you?

I got this project through a mutual acquaintance. He connected me to the team of Shyam Singha Roy. It all happened very quickly. I was in touch with the Assistant Directors of the film and they were explaining the requirement to me. It was a complete end-to-end online job. The ADs communicated with me explained their thought process. All the corrections, iterations and every single step of the final product went on in the smoother way possible. And in the end, with how the final portrait looked, they all were very much satisfied, and so was I.

How long have you worked on the portrait?

The team of Shyam Singha Roy told me that they would need the artwork in 10 days. With all the other projects that were already on my plate, this deadline was quite short. Soon, the deadline was cut to four days. But with all the efforts put in, we managed to finish it in five days. It was quite tough and challenging to meet the deadline because I really didn't want to compromise on perfection and quality. Well, I am thankful that it came out really well.

What was the thought process behind the artwork?

The thought process was quite simple. The team gave me a reference and explained their requirements. So after a lot of discussions, we fixed the color palette which was all about orange, yellow and brown. The portrait has to resemble the flashback from the 1960s, and have a connection with the Bengali backdrop, and some shades of Satyajit Ray. The team was very clear about what they wanted. It was the soul and theme of the movie.

And, have you watched the film? How did you feel watching your artwork make a difference?

I am genuinely a fan of Nani. I love watching him perform. So he is the first reason why I watched the film. And yes, it was lovely watching my artwork too. Felt really proud of myself. It was so grand on the big screen and felt amazing. I was very much satisfied with how important it was for the film.

After the crew shared the portrait, it received a lot of love. How did you feel?

I couldn't believe the response it received. People were tagging me all over social media and it was overwhelming. Many were recording the scenes from the theatre and showered with love, and genuine support. I was proud of how far I have come. It was nothing but a pure sense of gratitude and love from everywhere. Couldn't be happier. Looking forward to more of it. Also, I wouldn't have been possible without the trust the team had in me. It was fun to work. Letting go of this project would be nothing but shutting the door on the best opportunity. I am glad I did not do that.