After a brief lull, music director and actor R.P. Patnaik is back in action. His Tulasi Dalam is releasing next month, his debut direction in Kannada is done and he is set to embark on a new project that targets electronic media. Ask him if there is any connection to Yandamuri’s Tulasi Dalam he replies with an emphatic no. He says, “You will agree the title is apt after watching the film. There is no blood shed but it is a semi horror film, perhaps this is the first constructive and a positive horror film, all these days you’ve seen only destructive horror.”
The entire film has been shot at Las Vegas. Horror films are made in the dark but Patnaik says this has been selected as it is the world’s brightest place and also because the city never sleeps. The night looks like day. About the content, Patnaik explains, “It’s debate on existence of the soul. There is a dialogue that says science doesn’t accept atma but I feel science is not fully developed. Thirty years back we didn’t know what a computer is, now we can’t do without it.”
The director is also playing an important role of a ghost reader who interprets things between the victim and the ghost, he interacts with ghosts and knows what exactly is in the mind of a ghost. Brahmanandam plays the local version of the ghost reader or Bhoota Vaidyudu who exploits gullible people for money.
His next film due for release in Kannada is a political thriller called Vyuham starring Priyamani as a CBI officer.
Patnaik is popular on Karnataka as well but it’s been six years since he composed there. He says he wants to renew his bond with the Kannada people.
The next on his agenda is a movie on media that will go to the sets next week. His anguish at the way the electronic media functions will be reflected in the movie. “I will be holding a preview for the media and I am sure they will laud my efforts,” he says confidently.
