There was a writer lurking within actor Rahul Ravindran long before he knew it. He had written a few short film scripts years ago. And in recent years, he took to blogging whenever he felt moved by a film. He wrote occasionally and these weren’t consolidated into a blog until, much later, his wife and singer Chinmayi, felt the need to do so. For those of us who’ve known this actor and had read some of his writings, it was evident that the writer in him would come to the fore with time.
His journey into cinema is known by now. He did an ad film with director Dibakar Banerjee, which led to more ads, and eventually he debuted in the Tamil film Moscowin Kaveri (2010). The film didn’t help his career and that of the other newcomer who starred alongside him, Samantha, but when he bagged a part in Andala Rakshasi (2012), it changed things for him.
Backup plan
Rahul was drawn to cinema in his ninth or tenth class. “I always wanted to narrate stories,” he remembers. But he doesn’t hail from a film background and felt he needed a backup plan. “Education was my backup plan and I was conventional in my choices,” he says about his commerce graduation and masters in business management. “I worked for a short time, saved nearly ₹1.5 lakh and then gave myself a year to try my luck in films. If I took longer and things didn’t work out, it wouldn’t be easy to begin in the corporate world either,” he reasons.
Eight years after his debut film, Rahul has finished shooting his directorial ChiLaSow (Chiranjeevi Lakshmi Sowbhagyavathy) starring Sushant, newcomer Ruhani Sharma, Vennela Kishore, Rohini, Anu Hasan and others. Taking a break from post-production to talk to us, Rahul affirms that he didn’t act and direct so as to not let his attention waver.
As an actor, he has Howrah Bridge co-starring Chandni releasing this week, murder mystery Dhrishti expected soon, and he will also begin shooting for the Telugu-Tamil remake of the Kannada hit U-Turn co-starring Samantha. There’s also a comedy, Sobhan Babu , in which he and Vennela Kishore hope to bring the house down as lawyer and client.
What if?
The idea for ChiLaSow harks back to a decade, inspired by an incident that occurred to his friend who was going through the rigours of an arranged marriage. “When he shared an incident, I knew that if things had turned out different, the results wouldn’t be the same. It set me thinking of the possibilities of a different turn of events,” says Rahul. While shooting for Moscowin Kaveri , which took over two years with unprecedented delays and he was under contract and unable to sign any other film, he spent his time developing this story.
When more acting projects followed, he took them up. Initially he had wanted to be an assistant director and recalls calling Mani Ratnam’s office for months hoping to get a chance. Andala Rakshasi , the comedy Ala Ela and Sundeep Kishan co-starrer Tiger are among Rahul’s top of the recall films. There were a few not-so-good ones too. He admits doing a few films just to have a decent bank balance. “I have to pay bills, so I can’t keep waiting to get scripts that I love 100%. I did a few if I could relate to them 70%. I can’t complain. I was getting work and had the time to prepare for what I ultimately wanted to do — direct.”
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For 11 months after Ala Ela and Tiger , he didn’t take up any acting assignments. The scripts weren’t appealing.
In this time, he listed out ideas of his own that could later be full-fledged scripts. He has 35 such story ideas.
In 2017, Rahul decided to take the plunge. Around the same time, actor Sushant was on the lookout for a refreshing story. Things fell in place and the team shot in November and December 2017. Rahul penned the dialogues himself, though the Chennai-bred actor-director got familiar with Telugu only in recent years. “Had it been a period setting or a village story, I wouldn’t have written it. I am fluent with the urban lingo,” he says.
He describes ChiLaSow as a slice of life film, the mention of which reminds us of films like Ala Modalaindi, Kalyana Vaibhogame and Pelli Choopulu . Rahul states mockingly, “It took me this many years to direct my film and I was heartbroken when I learnt that ‘pelli choopulu’ plays a big part of Tharun Bhascker’s film. When I watched it, I absolutely loved it. My film is not similar, it’s just that new-age storytelling methods have a few similarities.”
The title ChiLaSow was suggested by Vennela Kishore. “Two characters are in a situation and I let the two of them guide me through the script,” says Rahul.
Talking about slice of films, it’s notable how these smaller films shined with well-defined women characters. And Rahul hints at subtle surprises in his film that break gender stereotypes. “Have you noticed that our films show only gynaecologists or psychologists as women? Women surgeons are making a mark now but we’re yet to see them represented on screen,” he smiles.
Gender sensitivity
A sensible take on gender equations is evident in the way Rahul articulates his thoughts. Last year, on Twitter, he called out an advertising campaign for an e-commerce giant for its sexist views, and went on to state that his wife Chinmayi had earned more and hence paid more taxes than him.
If he takes pride in, and doesn’t feel insecure of his wife’s success, it comes from gender sensitivity over the years: “Books and movies shaped my thoughts at a young age. Much later when I was doing a short course at MICA and listened to a few sessions by a film professor, he helped me give a form to these thoughts.” His mom, a closeted singer, also made a huge impression on him in his growing years.
ChiLaSow is expected later this summer.
