Publicity designers are among the most invisible artists in cinema. Their work travels faster than a trailer, often shaping first impressions of a film. A poster can ignite fandom, build anticipation, or even change the way a hero is perceived. Yet, more often than not, the people behind these images remain uncredited.
In the case of OG, one of the year’s most awaited Telugu films, the posters have drawn as much conversation as the film itself. At the centre of some of those designs is a 25-year-old from Kurnool, Suresh Muddavaram, better known online by his handle Suryah.psd.
Suresh’s story begins in college. “I used to design for Facebook fan pages when I didn’t have classes. Just for likes,” he says, almost amused at how far that impulse took him. Art had always been a quiet companion, but the sudden loss of his father during his diploma exams forced him to take a different road. With a family of six to support, Suresh left studies behind and moved to Hyderabad in search of work.
The journey wasn’t straightforward. He first worked in marketing agencies and later spent five years at a reputed film promotions company, where he learned the ropes of designing for cinema. But there was a challenge, “It was always the company’s name that went out, not mine. Poster designing is also an art and I wanted to put my name out.” That's when he decided to step out on his own.
The connection to OG came through a friend, Chaitanya, who was an assistant director with Sujeeth. He was asked to do a simple cassette poster design as a trial. As he created that, it caught the director’s attention. “Sujeeth anna is the kind of person, who only looks at the work, and not the experience,” Suresh says. That trust was enough. Soon, he was part of the film’s large design team and contributed some of the most attention-grabbing posters.
Suresh recalls how Sujeeth communicates ideas in fragments, leaving space for interpretation. “For the CD cassette poster, he only said to use a CD. Then I added the snake from the song, because for star heroes you don’t usually see that kind of design. It felt unique.” These touches, fonts like Storm Gust, strokes and textures borrowed and adapted from unexpected sources, give OG’s posters their distinctive edge. “Sujeeth anna’s style has a Japanese touch. Very unique. I understood his taste immediately,” he adds.
To his surprise, those posters travelled widely on social media, with fans sharing them directly to his handle. For someone who had once been just another fanboy online, it would have been surreal to see the fandom now celebrating his work.
For Suresh, OG is the pinnacle so far. He also counts his work on Saripodhaa Sanivaaram among his best. Yet, it is the freedom of freelancing, the simple ability to stand behind his own posters, that seems to matter the most to him. “I have plans,” he says, “but for now, I am just enjoying OG.”
Behind every big film’s image is someone like Suresh, working through the night, translating a director’s thought into something iconic, and carrying a star’s aura into the public imagination.