It begins like a simple scene in an old-fashioned romance. The hero, called Raja, hesitates to express his love for the girl, Rani, and dictates a letter that his friend pens down for him. ‘ Priyamaina na Rani …’ (my dear Rani) he begins and in the next moment, asks his friend to scratch out the word ‘ na ’ (my), saying that he cannot claim ownership of the girl. He also asks her to forgive him for loving her so much without her consent.
Yazurved Gurram, Kiran Abbavaram and Rajkumar Kasireddy
Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaru (RVRG) directed by debutant Ravi Kiran Kola and starring Kiran Abbavaram, Rahasya Gorak, Rajkumar Kasireddy and Yazurved Gurram is woven around a one-line story of a boy unable to summon up courage and express his love, for the fear of being rejected. The attention to character nuances like the instance mentioned above, along with dreamy cinematography, lilting music and spot-on performances make the film work. RVRG is the latest addition to the bright small films from Telugu cinema in 2019.
- A talking point of RVRG is its music by Jay Krish. The title song begins in the folksy burra katha format, outlining the story of Raja and Rani. Later in the film, the songs take on an experimental retro rock-pop-jazz flavour, while still retaining the earthy flavour in its lyrics.
- Jay concedes it was tricky, “We also wanted to narrate the story musically in places where there are no dialogues at all. The film’s comedy is behavioural and the music had to complement it. Ravi and I wanted music with French, Spanish and Italian influences and blend in Telugu flavour.”
- Nellore-born Jay grew up listening to both classical music and film music by composers like Ilaiyaraaja, A R Rahman and Mani Sharma. While studying B.Tech, he listened to international composer like Hans Zimmer and observed how different musicians narrated a story.
- He learnt music production and sound design in Chennai and composed for short films, one of which was spotted by Ravi. Jay was among the first to be on board for RVRG , even before the actors were signed. He talks about the film with satisfaction and mentions, “A few scenes stretch to more than two minutes and I wanted the music to be effective. The background score alone took me two months to compose.”
“Through small details I wanted to establish what kind of person Raja is,” says Ravi. The first-time director is a native of East Godavari, a region he pays rich homage to in his film. After a B.Tech engineering course, he came to Hyderabad to make films. “I watched world cinema, and learnt filmmaking through online videos,” he says.
The idea of RVRG had been with him for a while and he began fleshing it out, writing in detail about the setting, architecture and props. Whenever he approached a producer to pitch his story, he would insist on giving a complete narration. “Unless someone listens to the narration, they wouldn’t know how I plan to execute this simple story,” he reasons.
The storyline brought back memories of the Tamil film Idhayam (1991), and to an extent, director Prem Kumar’s 96 (now being remade in Telugu with Samantha and Sharwanand). It got me thinking that maybe, if Jaanu and Ram of 96 had the chance to meet in a couple of years after high school, their story would have been different.
Director Ravi Kiran Kola
Ravi wanted to capture everyday life in the rural areas. “I wanted Raja Vaaru... to look and feel like a Malayalam film (he cites Premam ) or a Tamil film, reflecting the flavour of a region. Telugu films are mostly larger than life. Watching world cinema helped me understand how a narrative can be woven around a small issue,” he says.
Composer Jay Krish
In the pre-production stage, he and cinematographer Vidyasagar discussed how to take the audience to nooks and corners of the villages in East Godavari belt. “We had those sweeping aerial shots of villages near the river; we also took viewers into the lanes, houses and cattle sheds,” says Ravi.
Vidyasagar who had earlier filmed Falaknuma Das (remake of Malayalam film Angamaly Diaries ), understood Ravi’s vision but also told him that it wouldn’t be easy to execute. A chunk of portions happen during monsoon and the unit would patiently for dark clouds and rain-soaked streets. “For the climax scene, we shot early morning before 9 a.m. and then it got sunny; so we waited till the evening and resumed filming when it began pouring. The long wait was possible because everyone cooperated and I wasn’t under pressure to shoot in harsh light and fake the rainy scenario,” says Vidyasagar.
Cinematographer Vidyasagar
Ravi and Vidyasagar relentlessly looked for spots where they could shoot. They went in search of a British era school building to heighten the nostalgic setting. They shot in nearly 40 villages including Kapileswarapuram, and had planned the props, costumes, colours and lighting for every scene. One of the reference points for a monsoon sequence was the ‘ Kalalai poyenu’ song from Mani Ratnam’s Sakhi (‘ Evano oruvan’ from Alaipayuthey ).
RVRG released without promotional blitzkrieg and is gradually gaining attention. Meanwhile, Ravi has begun to write his next film — a political thriller.
