Pradeep Doddaiah’s teaser for his yet-to-release film Out Of Syllabus was recently launched. The teaser grabbed eyeballs on account of the recent news about certain topics being deleted from NCERT textbooks. Pradeep, however, says that his film has nothing to with school education or textbooks.
Instead, explains Pradeep, the film talks about life and relationships, topics that have never been included in our syllabus or taught in schools and colleges. “We are all taught to excel in studies and score high, but when it comes to life and its challenges, we are neither equipped with degrees, nor given a manual that we can refer to.”
Pradeep, a Malleswaram boy, studied MBA in London, but switched tracks and dived into the world of showbiz. He began doing stand-up comedy with Kannada group, Lolbagh. “It began with writing for my stand-up act and then I, gradually, ventured into writing scripts, screenplays and dialogues for Kannada films.”
The 35-year-old influencer has a popular YouTube channel, Pakkad Mane Uncle, and is invited by various educational institutes to give motivational talks. “I speak about self-confidence, body language and so on. That gave me the idea that we could make a film about these things and that is how Out of Syllabus came to be.”
Pradeep with Achyuth on the sets of the film | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Pradeep, who has worked with directors such as Simple Suni and Pawan Wodeyar, says, “I always tried to spot the difference between front and back-benchers. There is something unique about everyone, whether they are toppers or failures, specifically when it comes to relationships. The last aspect (WOULD YOU SPECIFY WHICH IS THAT, NOT CLEAR) is what inspired the title of the film.”
For Out Of Syllabus Pradeep dons the role of writer, director, choreographer (he choregraphs one song in the film), costume director and lead actor! “I did the costumes as the film is realistic and did not demand any elaborate work.”
With Hritika in a still from the film | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
He is joined on screen by Achyuth Kumar (KGF and Kantaara) and Hritika Srinivas plays the female lead. “We first finished shooting the heroine’s portions. Then I faced the camera and took instructions from my co-director, as acting and directing at the same time can be taxing.”
The film is produced under the banner of Ad6 ENtertainmnet with K Vijayakala Sudhakar as the producer and it is in the post production stage.
