Telugu boy’s indie short, Signal, wins global laurels

A black-and-white techno-horror short filmed in a single take on an iPhone is taking Visakhapatnam-born filmmaker Sagi Sree Hari Varma to audiences around the world. His film Signal — shot with minimal resources and centered on a young woman navigating a world suddenly cut off from internet connectivity — has screened across six continents, picking up awards and selections at international festivals in Australia, Turkiye, Argentina, China, Nigeria, and beyond. The film has also been selected for the Accra Indie Film Festival, oneof Africa’s largest short film festivals, and is headed to the prestigious Palm Springs International ShortFest, where Varma has been invited to represent the film. Among its many stops has been the Cannes Marché du Film, where the short was showcased as part of a curated Indian selection. Speaking to Hyderabad Times, Varma reflects on the idea behind Signal, the Hyderabad experiences that deepened his love for cinema, and why he believes the biggest dream is still a packed movie theater.‘Signal came from a modern nightmare we all understand’The concept for the short emerged from observing how deeply modern life depends on something invisible like the internet. “We’ve become obsessed with signals without even realising it. They’re invisible, but almost every aspect of our lives depends on them. It is a modern night-mare we all understand,” he says. What began as a small independent project soon traveled far beyond what he had imagined, eventually screening at the Cannes Marché du Film. “For years, these festivals and theaters felt very distant to me, so seeing Signal travel to places like Cannes still feels surreal,” he admits. ‘Baahubali changed how I looked at cinema’Before finding his way to the director’s chair, Varma was on a deeply structured, conventional track. After studying at a military boarding school in Dehradun, he pursued computer science engineering in Bengaluru and initially envisioned a standard corporate future. But watching Baahubali 2 as a final-year engineering student proved transformative. “The scale, the atmosphere in theaters, the celebration around the film—I had never seen anything like it. It made me realise what cinema could achieve, and the heights Telugu cinema could reach globally.” ‘My dream is to make films for the big screen’Moving from inspiration to action, Varma chose to bypass the traditional industry gatekeepers entirely. “You don’t need permission to start making films anymore. If you have a story and the willingness to put in the work, there are ways to make it happen,”he explains. While the short continues its international festival run, Varma is now developing the idea into a feature-length film and exploring opportunities within Indian cinema. “The dream has always been to see an entire audience completely lost in a world I built. A theatre full of people experiencing a story together.”Bringing the independent project to life required a strong support system that Varma says made the entire journey possible. Along with his parents, he credits VFX professionals Sherry Bharda and Abhishek Krishnan for mentoring him. “Their guidance and encouragement gave me the confidence to keep pushing the film forward,” he says.Official Selections:Sagi Sree Hari Varma reflecting on his journey from engineering student to filmmaker, he says, “The dream has always been the theatre — a theatre full of people experiencing a story together.”- Sanjana Pulugurtha