The Warangal-born Nagarjun Thallapalli is elated; he had worked in a couple of mainstream films earlier but the satisfaction of recording C/O Kancharapalem in sync sound is immeasurable. The B-Tech and FTII graduate wonders why the Telugu film industry doesn’t spend much time on sound recording when Mumbai technicians take nearly three months to get a perfect aural quality. Venkatesh Maha, the director, saw his work while he was in FTII and offered him the job and he was more than happy to grab the opportunity.
While working for the film Nagarjun says every day was a learning experience and challenging. He stresses that without the cooperation and understanding of the cinematographer and director, it would not have been possible to go ahead with a complicated project. “Every train that goes through Vishakapatanam goes by Kancharapalem. We shot between the two tracks and there is a flyover above the track. The airport is just 15 to 16 kms away. People go to work by 8 in the morning, you can see and listen to the noise of vehicles and people. I had a train schedule app downloaded on my phone and if there was still five minutes left for the train to arrive, we would squeeze in a scene. Even in a distance if we hear a train horn, we would cut that and do it one more time. We were lucky to have a director who would settle for nothing but the best and perfect, if the light or sound was not good, there would be no shoot.”
Nagarjun cites one more example to show how the trains and their sound became an important part of the film. He recalls, “We had planned to shoot one scene at midnight and the cinematographer had spent two in preparation. Then there was some kind of noise disturbance, and that’s it, at 3 am he announced a pack up. We shot the same scene next day and we got it right.” One day wastage means a big deal for an independent filmmaker but the importance that director and cinematographer gave to a scene is something that you will understand when you watch the fiilm,” adds Nagarjun.
That the trains are an integral part of Kancharapalem’s life cannot be more evident in the fact that during the State bifurcation, when a strike was on and all the trains were cancelled, the people of Kancharapalem did not sleep. They were so used to sleeping with the sound that a sudden noise deprivation disturbed their routine.
Says Nagarjun, “The sound of Kancharapalem is amazing... it is a very busy place. We worked for 22 months though it was a 60-day schedule. It wasn’t easy to dub as 80 of the artistes are not professional actors. The good thing was they were enthusiastic and were ready for any number of takes. Who says there is a dearth of stories in Telugu film industry?” signs off Nagarjun.
