Chakri Toleti confesses to have watched a number of Charlie Chaplin films in the company of his father during his childhood. Perhaps that explains the Chaplin-like quality of his silent short film Unread .
Shot in black and white with a camera that doesn’t move, Unread narrates the story of a boy living on the streets, struggling to find food and keeping a corrupt cop at bay, and chancing upon a beautiful girl one eventful day. Unread was an experience of unlearning the new and ringing in old world filmmaking techniques for Chakri. “Imagine living without a mobile phone and an internet and doing things the old fashioned way. When we worked with a camera that doesn’t move and required the actors to move in and out of the frame, it was back to basics,” he says, speaking to us from the US. He’s been dividing his time between the US and India for the last 20 years and Unread comes as a surprise from the man who remade A Wednesday into Unnaipol Uruvan ( Eenadu in Telugu) and then directed Ajith starrer Billa 2 .
While making Billa 2 , Chakri was approached by Seagrams to direct a short film with a concept that’s larger than life. The other directors who had been signed up for similar projects were Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra. “Love is what I consider larger than life. I built this story on how the innocent love of a child can impact people at every level and make people search for a deeper meaning,” he says.
Chakri’s story was developed with a screenplay by Mario and Robbie Fox. Shankar Tucker was roped in for music and Tinnu Anand was signed for a pivotal role apart from child actors Roshini Walia and Sri Ram. “I handpicked the artistes. Even the junior artistes are not the ones seen in conventional movies who know the camera placement. I wanted real people who wouldn’t have a rehearsed way of approaching the camera. We selected people from bastis ,” he says.
The idea of shooting the film in black and white happened partly by intent and partly by design. “I’ve shot extensively at the Ramoji Film City for my previous films and there’s a comfort level. But when I visited the place, I felt the colours I saw there wouldn’t fit this story. So we re-painted a few things and decided to shoot in black and white,” he says.
It could be argued that the film is set in 1930s, but Chakri doesn’t want to give the film a specific period. “Let’s say it’s set in a time that’s magical and mystical,” he says. The film has dialogue cards reminiscent of the silent era.
Making a short film ensured the freedom of not having to work within the parameters of catering to the box office. “I saw it as a project driven by passion,” says Chakri.
Unread is available on YouTube.
