R Chandrashekar, now popularly known as Taj Mahal Chandru comes from an agricultural background. His first film Taj Mahal , a Kannada romantic film, was written and directed by him and produced by T Shivashankar Reddy. The film not only had a 200-day run, but also went on to win many awards — including the Karnataka State Film Award for in the Best Music Director category for Abhimann Roy and Chandru won the best lyricist award at the 56th Filmfare Awards South, while Anant Nag was nominated for best supporting actor for the same film. The film was so successful that it was later remade in Telugu with the same title.
Chandru recalls his uphill journey before and during the making of his debut directorial — Taj Mahal .
“I was crazy about films since childhood, but never watched any in a theatre till I was in class 10. I come from a small village in Chikkaballapura district. The whole village had just one TV which would be kept in the middle of a street and all of us would flock to watch the news. Most of us were poor and everyone had a bad opinion about anyone who watched films. So watching films was completely discouraged.
When I was in class eight, I started writing poetry and stories and participated in debates. I would come first in everything, including studies and my name would be displayed on the notice board as a good student. That inspired me to better myself each time.
I also kept myself abreast with news. There was only one house which subscribed to a Kannada paper. I accompanied others to that home to read it. Then I would try to write in that style. At that time poetry writing took a leap in my life.
One day, we were discussing our future plans with our teachers. When my turn came, my teacher joked that I should get into films as I had creative skills in writing. That stuck in my mind and raised my curiosity of the film industry.
One evening, I sneaked out of my home to watch a film on that one TV in my village. When I went back home, my father did not allow me into the house. That further increased my curiosity about films.
As I excelled in class 10, I chose PCMB and shifted to Chikkaballapura for higher studies. I was the only one who had passed class 10 in my entire village. This was also the first time I was put into an English medium. I found it tough. While I excelled in Kannada medium in my village, I was failing in everything English here.
Depressed, I started bunking classes. At the same time, director NT Jayram Reddy was shooting for a serial close by. I bunked classes and tried to befriend him. For two years I followed him and finally he acknowledged me.
When the results came, my father was shattered. He took me back and put me to work on his farm. For five years I worked as a farmer and excelled there too. He decided to get me married. But the girl rejected me as I was ‘just a farmer’. My relationship with my father deteriorated.
One day I left the house and wrote a story with my father as the villain. Some of my stories were printed in Kannada papers. I borrowed ₹50 from a friend and landed in Jayram Reddy’s house as I wanted to achieve something and show my father that mine was not a wasted life.
When he asked me what my field of interest was in films, I responded with ‘give me any work. I can lift lights and clean the studios’. He laughed and explained the various aspects of film making — such as script writing, direction, lyricist and so on.
I finally told him I was willing to work for nothing just to gain knowledge and experience. Finally he told me to focus on writing as that was my strength and sent me to another team for a job.
It was the team of the serial Bhageerathi , directed by S Narayan. He was so good. He would not come to the set, but would send an audio recording of how to go ahead with the shoot. The recordings would have in-depth details of what angle the camera should be at, where the artist should sit, what lighting should be used and so on. The associate director had to just follow that. To do that, the audio had to be transcribed. I told them I would do it for them if they gave me food. They agreed and I got the job.
Now my stay had to be taken care of. A boy from my village was working in a bar. He helped me get a space to sleep inside a stock room. And, my journey in films began. Working as a transcriber was great. At one go, I learnt direction, dialogues, screenplay, camera angles and scriptwriting. I transcribed more than 3,000 audios like this in five years. I started by transcribing 40 pages at a go. I became such an expert that soon I could write a whole film script in hours and also remember what elements had to go into each scene.
Finally after six months, I got my first pay — ₹2,000. It was the best day of my life. I bought a dhoti and a towel for my father, a sari for my mother and some sweets and went back home. My father was thrilled at my progress as Bhageerathi was his favourite serial.
After five years, I wanted to learn different aspects of filmmaking. So I quit this team and started working with every director I liked for free. Meanwhile, I also completed my B Com and wrote the story of my first film Taj Mahal .
One day, a farmer approached me and said he would give me three lakhs if I could create a character for him in a film. I told him if he could arrange for more money, I would make a film and also make him act in it. He went back home and asked his family and friends and arranged the cash and Taj Mahal was launched.
Ajay Rao and Pooja Gandhi were chosen as the lead. Pooja’s Mungaru Male was reeling in success and she was the strong point of Taj Mahal too. The film also had Anant Nag in a supporting role. The film progressed slowly but steadily. I would work as a director during the day and as a cook at nights. Me and the producers hired a small room, where we slept on mats. One day, we ran run out of rice. One producer used the ₹20 his late grandmother had gifted him to buy rice for us and I was so touched.
Soon, the film was complete and released. But the same day there was a bomb blast in one of the theatres and all theatres were empty. My stomach churned as the producer had put his all in this film. I broke down.
But, the next day when the theatres opened, Taj Mahal was running houseful across Karnataka. It had a successful run and created history. Even though the film was a hit, the producers sold the rights for a very light profit and left. I was back to square one — penniless and travelling in buses. I had no clue how to make profit from my first film.
One day, I got a call from a producer asking me to direct his film. I asked for a higher price and he accepted. I knew my journey had begun.
As told to Shilpa Sebastian R
This column chronicles a filmmaker’s first efforts
