కోఠి ఉమెన్స్ కాలేజీలోని ఈ దర్బార్ హాల్ ఇంకా ఉందా?

1988లో ఇండియాలో సంవత్సరం పాటు సోవియట్ ఫెస్టివల్ జరిగింది. అప్పటి సోవియట్ యూనియన్ నుంచి వందలాది మంది డెలిగేట్స్ ఇండియా వచ్చారు.

అందులో సోవియట్ రచయితలు, కవులు, బాలే నృత్య కళాకారులు, చిత్రకారులు, ఫిలిమ్మేకర్స్, నటీనటులు... ఇలా ఎందరో ఉన్నారు. 

అప్పటి రష్యన్ పాప్ ఆర్టిస్ట్ అల్లా పుగచేవా కూడా వచ్చింది. మన లలితకళాతోరణంలో ప్రదర్శన కూడా ఇచ్చింది. నేనామెతో మాట్లాడాను. కొన్ని గంటలపాటు ఆమెకు ఇంటర్‌ప్రీటర్‌గా పనిచేశాను. ఆమె నాకు ఆటోగ్రాఫ్‌తో పాటు, తన పాప్ సాంగ్స్ క్యాసెట్, గ్రాంఫోన్ రికార్డ్స్ ఇచ్చింది. అవి ఇంకా నాదగ్గర ఉన్నాయి. 

సుమారు 37 ఏళ్ల క్రితం, అల్లా పుగచేవా నాకిచ్చిన ఆ క్యాసెట్లోని "మిలియోన్ మిలియోన్ ఆలిహ్ రోజ్" పాట నేనింకా మర్చిపోలేదు. 

కట్ చేస్తే -   

ఈ సోవియట్ డెలిగేట్స్ అంతా, అప్పుడు మన దేశంలోని సుమారు 162 పట్టణాలు, నగరాల్ని సందర్శించారు. ఎన్నో సమావేశాలు, ప్రదర్శనలు జరిగాయి. 

థాంక్స్ టు రాజీవ్ గాంధి & గోర్బచేవ్. 

అప్పుడు అదొక పెద్ద పండుగ.   

అప్పుడే, సోవియట్ ఫెస్టివల్లో భాగంగా, ఉస్మానియా యూనివర్సిటీ రష్యన్ డిపార్ట్‌మెంట్ నుంచి డిప్లొమా విద్యార్థులం మేమొక నాటిక ప్రదర్శించాము. 

నేటివ్ రష్యన్ డిలిగేట్స్ ముందు మేము ప్రదర్శించి, మెప్పించిన ఆ నాటికలో నేనూ ఉన్నాను. ఆ నాటికను ఆరోజు మేం ప్రదర్శించింది, ఈ కోఠి వుమెన్స్ కాలేజీలోని దర్బార్ హాల్లో. 

కోఠి ఉమెన్స్ కాలేజీ క్యాంపస్ లోని ఈ దర్బార్ హాల్ ఉందా?
ఉంటే, సందర్శించే అవకాశం ఉంటుందా?   

- మనోహర్ చిమ్మని    

ఏది ఎప్పటివరకు అనేది నిర్ణయించేది కాలం

మన ఆలోచన కావచ్చు.

మన నిర్ణయం కావచ్చు.

మన చేస్తున్న పని కావచ్చు.

మన సాంఘిక స్పృహ కావచ్చు.

ఈ ఒక్కటే అని గిరి గీసుకొని కూర్చోలేం. 
ఇది వద్దు అని కూడా ఖచ్చితంగా అనుకోలేం. 

సినిమాలా ఇంకొకటా అన్నది అసలు ప్రశ్నే కాదు. 

పని చేసుకుంటూ ఉండటం ముఖ్యం. 

ఏది ఎప్పటివరకు అనేది నిర్ణయించేది కాలం. 

దాని గురించి నీ నిరంతర ఆలోచన, సంఘర్షణ అనవసరం. వ్యర్థం.

వాతావరణంలా మనసు మారుతుంటుంది. 

మన ఆలోచనలు, నిర్ణయాలు మారిపోతుంటాయి. 

మనం మనుషులం. 

ఇది సహజం. 

కట్ చేస్తే -

ఒక మనిషి మీదనో, ఒక పరిస్థితి మీదనో, మనకు లేని ఒక అంశం మీదనో నిందవేస్తూ, బ్లేమ్ గేమ్ ఆడటం మన సమస్యల్ని తీర్చదు. 

అది ఉంటే ఇది చేసేవాణ్ణి అనుకోవడమంత మూర్ఖత్వం లేదు.  

అన్నిటికీ "నేనే కారణం" అన్న బాధ్యత స్వీకరించగలిగినప్పుడు క్రమంగా అంతా బాగుంటుంది. కాని, ఇందుకు మన ఈగో ఒప్పుకోదు. 

అయినా సరే, మనకున్న సమయం తక్కువ. 

ఈ నిజం ముందు ఏ ఈగోలకూ విలువ లేదు.

- మనోహర్ చిమ్మని 

Feel Better in One Minute

Life does not always have to defeat your mood.

Sometimes, peace is much closer than we think.

Sometimes, all it takes is one conscious minute.

Pause.

Take a deep breath.

Feel your lungs expand with life.

Hold it gently for a few seconds.

Then slowly release it —

like letting go of invisible weight.

Again.

One more time.

Notice the shift.

The body remembers peace before the mind does.

Breathing deeply releases more than air.

It releases tension, heaviness, anxiety, emotional noise — the moods silently stuck inside us.

That is the secret.

Not every problem disappears in one minute.

But your energy can change in one minute.

And sometimes, that is enough to begin again.

— Manohar Chimmani 

Think Beyond Borders

Most people dream locally and then wonder why their growth remains limited.

The world has changed.

Today, a writer in Hyderabad can reach a reader in New York.

An artist in India can sell to a collector in Europe.

A filmmaker can emotionally connect with someone sitting alone in Tokyo or California.

Technology has quietly removed geography from creativity.

Yet many creative people still think only within local circles, local validation, and local markets.

That mindset itself becomes the limitation.

If you truly want larger success — financially and creatively — begin thinking globally.

Not by losing your roots.

But by expanding your perspective.

Human emotions are universal:

love, loneliness, ambition, heartbreak, spirituality, longing, transformation.

Speak honestly about those things, and the world may listen.

Global thinking is not about becoming westernized.

It is about becoming universally relatable.

Create with depth.

Communicate with clarity.

Think beyond borders.

Sometimes, the biggest shift in life begins with one question:

“What if my audience is much larger than I imagined?”

— Manohar Chimmani 

Live Life to the Fullest

Whatever I am today, much of it has been shaped by cinema.

Cinema gave me experiences, lessons, relationships, challenges, victories, failures, and a deeper understanding of creativity itself. It shaped my journey in ways I will always respect.

And yet, I must honestly admit something:

I was never fully consumed by cinema.

Some part of me always remained elsewhere — quietly waiting.

That part was writing.

Writing was my first love. My first inner calling. But somewhere along the way, cinema demanded its own time, energy, noise, and movement. And in serving that world, my deeper relationship with writing often had to wait.

That is the irony of life.

Sometimes, what gives us identity also delays our true return to ourselves.

But every life reaches a moment of clarity.

And I feel that moment now.

I want to spend more time with what calls me inward — writing, art, music, and spirituality.

This is not an escape from cinema.

It is a slow and conscious transformation.

Cinema will remain part of my journey — as livelihood, as movement, as creative commerce, and as a space for larger dreams.

But beyond that, I now seek quieter forms of creation.

The kind that demand silence instead of noise.

Depth instead of speed.

Presence instead of performance.

To be spiritual does not mean leaving everything behind.

It means bringing awareness into everything we do.

Create deeply.

Live consciously.

Remain true to yourself.

Be creative.

Be spiritual.

Be you.

And above all —

live life to the fullest.

— Manohar Chimmani 

Returning to the Page

Cinema and writing — both are acts of creativity.

Both demand imagination, emotion, discipline, and the courage to begin with nothing.

But they are also very different worlds.

Cinema is collective energy.

It moves through producers, actors, technicians, markets, budgets, schedules, approvals, expectations, and countless creative negotiations. Every frame is a collaboration. Every decision passes through many hands.

That is the beauty of cinema.

And also its chaos.

Writing, on the other hand, is intimate freedom.

Just one person.

One mind.

One silence.

One page.

No permissions.

No waiting.

No noise around the core emotion.

Both cinema and writing carry risk. Success is uncertain in both. But writing has one rare advantage: inner control. The freedom to move at the speed of thought and soul.

Perhaps that is why I now feel slowly drawn back toward writing again.

Not as an escape from cinema.

But as a return to something quieter, deeper, and more personal.

Maybe this next phase of my life is not about creating bigger noise…

but about creating deeper resonance.

And for me, that journey begins with words.

— Manohar Chimmani 

We Mature with Damage, Not Time

No regrets.

No hard feelings.

No complaints.

No blame game.

Just a record.

A silent record of storms survived,

people lost,

dreams broken,

expectations dissolved,

and versions of ourselves quietly buried with time.

Life does not mature us through calendars.

It matures us through impact.

Through heartbreak.

Through loneliness.

Through betrayal.

Through the long nights nobody knows about.

And yet, somewhere in that damage,

wisdom enters softly.

We begin to speak less.

Judge less.

Expect less.

And understand more.

Perhaps that is growth.

Not becoming harder —

but becoming deeper.

So, reinvent yourself.

Again and again.

And despite everything,

celebrate life.

Every single day.

— Manohar Chimmani 

This Profile Is Private

Some people leave.

But they never really leave.

They remain somewhere deep within us — like unfinished waves returning to the same shore again and again.

We were once impossibly close.

A rare kind of friendship.

Almost like two tides understanding each other without language.

Then came silence.

Misunderstanding.

Distance.

And life moved like a reluctant ship into darker waters.

But the strange thing about the sea is this:

No matter how far you walk away from it, the sound remains inside you.

Sometimes I think she became the sea itself.

Untouchable.

Mysterious.

Restless.

Infinite.

And perhaps that is why I still feel we will meet again someday — not as who we were, but as who we have become after storms, solitude, and time.

Closer.

Quieter.

Deeper.

Because the sea is never just water.

The sea is love.

The sea is creativity.

The sea is spirituality.

And some connections are simply too oceanic to end.

- Manohar Chimmani 

Reconnecting with the Soul

There comes a stage in life when creativity stops being ambition and starts becoming meditation.

Writing.

Art.

Cinema.

For years, they were my tools of expression. Now, they are slowly becoming my path inward.

Every meaningful creative act reconnects us with something deeper within ourselves — silence, awareness, presence… soul.

And perhaps that is why many creative people eventually move toward spirituality. Not because they are escaping life, but because they are trying to understand it more honestly.

My focus too is gradually shifting toward spirituality. But spirituality, to me, does not mean abandoning the world, wearing a robe, or walking away from creativity.

There is no rule that we must leave everything behind to become spiritual.

We can write spiritually.

Create spiritually.

Live spiritually.

A book can be spiritual.

A conversation can be spiritual.

Even silence can be spiritual.

The goal is not withdrawal from life.

The goal is deeper connection with it.

And sometimes, creativity itself becomes the bridge back to the soul.

— Manohar Chimmani 

The Little Mentor

There comes a point in life when age stops deciding who teaches whom.

Sometimes wisdom comes from experience.

Sometimes it comes from clarity.

I had a long call with my younger son today—my little mentor. And somewhere between conversations about life, work, time, and technology, one truth became clearer:

We all have too much to do and too little time to do it.

Previous generations accepted this imbalance as normal.

This generation is trying to redesign it.

That’s where AI becomes interesting.

Not as a replacement for human intelligence, but as a support system for human life. A tool that can reduce noise, save time, organize chaos, and perhaps give us back what we are slowly losing: mental space.

But only if used wisely.

Technology alone never changes life.

Awareness does.

And sometimes, that awareness arrives through a conversation with someone younger than you.

That’s the beautiful part.

- Manohar Chimmani