In civil service officer and debut director Paparao Biyyala’s Telugu-Hindi film, Music School, scheduled to release in theatres on May 12, the music teacher (Shriya Saran) and drama teacher (Sharman Joshi) in a school struggle to get the undivided attention of seven students to stage a play The Sound Of Music, since their parents want the children to focus on academics. Music School is an Ilaiyaraaja musical that attempts to discuss the academic pressures on students in a lighter vein.
Music School has recreated three iconic songs from The Sound of Music stage musical — ‘Do-re-mi’, ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ and ‘So Long, Farewell’ — by procuring the rights from Concord Company. The 1959 stage musical composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II was adapted into a film in 1965, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
Retaining the original compositions, the songs were recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the supervision of Ilaiyaraaja. Explaining the process, Biyyala says, “Fox (20th Century Fox) was given a one-time right to adapt the stage play into a film (which was released in 1965), which cannot be shared with anyone else. Since the story I had written for Music School involved The Sound of Music, I purchased the rights from Concord which owns the rights to Rodgers & Hammerstein music.”
For the stage play within the story of Music School, Shriya Saran takes on the part of Maria while Sharman essays Captain Georg von Trapp. Filmed in Goa and Hyderabad, Music School has eight original songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja. “This is an experiment to narrate a story in a musical format, with some of the conversations unfolding through songs,” says Biyyala.
Casting director and actor Vinay Varma auditioned 500 children for the film. “One of the songs features 250-300 children and another has 40-50 children. I was also particular that the seven children who are part of The Sound of Music play in the film are good performers. Apart from Shriya and Sharman, the principal cast includes Prakash Raj, Shaan, Suhasini Mulay, Vinay Varma and Benjamin Gilani, all of whom are good performers and the children had to match them.”
Biyyala has written, directed and produced the film. He had written the story years ago, keen to discuss the plight of students who are bogged down by academic expectations. He did not want to narrate a bleak story of students resorting to extreme measures. Sports, music and art classes are often considered dispensable compared to mark-oriented subjects such as mathematics and science. Hence, he began writing this story from the perspectives of music and drama teachers.
Biyyala had earlier directed a documentary titled Willing to Sacrifice in 1998, which won the National Film Award for Best Non-feature Environment Conservation/Preservation Film.
His interest in storytelling began during his years with the Sports Authority of India and grew during his posting as an IAS officer in Assam. His interactions with actor Tom Alter and director Jahnu Barua strengthened his interest in filmmaking. Intermittently he took up a short filmmaking course at the New York Film Academy. He worked with the United Nations for seven years and from 2014 to 2019, served as a policy advisor to the State Government of Telangana.
Music School will also be dubbed and released in Tamil.
