While surfing through TV channels, writer-director Rafi watched a news story on a rather curious emotional bonding, which prompted him to script Ring Master .
“It was the news on a devastating hurricane where a man refused to get into a helicopter without his dog. He decides to swim to safety with his pet. That triggered the plot of the bond between Prince, an animal trainer, and his pet dog, Diana,” says Rafi. The Rafi-Mecartin team had been instrumental in making several blockbusters in the past.
Dileep plays Prince, the son of a ringmaster who develops a bond and a liking for the animals around him.
However, all hell breaks loose when he takes Diana, a Golden Retriever, for a film shooting. Diana is the name of the heroine as well. Honey Rose and Keerthy Suresh play the heroines in Ring Master . The cast also includes Aju Varghese, Kalabhavan Shajon, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Guinness Pakru.
Rafi agrees that it was strenuous to shoot the film with lots of dogs. “One has to be patient while shooting with animals. We used two cameras and, at times, we had to wait for them to start ‘acting’. But the dogs were trained and they were generally friendly,” says Rafi.
The crew needed to do some research before the shooting to choose the right breed of dogs. “There are also certain strictures that we need to adhere to, while shooting with animals,” he adds.
Ring Master has been produced by Vaishak Rajan. Shaji is the cinematographer and Gopi Sundar is the music director.
