We head off towards Kanteerava Studios to take a peek at behind the scenes of Avane Sriman Narayana, featuring Rakshit Shetty and Shanvi Srivastava in the lead. The film is produced by Pushkar Films and Sridevi Entertainers and the story is written by Rakshit and his team of writers called 7 Odds.
It is 3 pm and a huge hall in the studio is converted to a pub, set in the 1980s. It looks Western, with an Indian touch. There are clay pots, cane baskets, kerosene lanterns and pickle jaadis. There are also rustic looking wooden chairs and tables with half lit candles and metal mugs placed on them. Old random black-and-white photos hang on the walls and large jute ropes are left hanging, creating a light barricade from the main pub area.
The place is hot and stuffy and reveals the grime behind the glamour.
The actors are sweating and Rakshit gets his face touched between each shot. To add to the heat Rakshit and Shanvi are wearing sweaters, while the character artistes are draped in blankets. The smokey effect added to the heat.
As the set was large and had many actors, director Sachin and his associates talked using a loud speaker.
What is happening
Rakshit, dressed as a policeman, is sitting on a table playing cards when Shanvi enters the room. While they converse, the other actors are supposed to giggle, snort and react besides delivering dialogues. As many people have to speak and emote, quite a few retakes happens. Yet no one loses their cool.
They continue to smile and encourage each other. Even Rakshit, who is sweating profusely, smiles and pats the accompanying artistes on their backs. He even prompts them and gives a few suggestions, easing the tension.
Amidst all these interactions, you hear, “ Yaar jaldi jaldi karo ” and you are introduced to Karm Chawla, a north Indian who is the director of photography. He also was the cameraman for Kirik Party. Chawla intensely gazes at his camera, calling over the loudspeaker where he wants the smoke effect increased or light dimmed.
Finally at 4.15pm the shot is okayed by the director and a break is given. Rakshit gets another touch up as the team prepares for the next shot.
Actor’s thoughts
Shanvi Srivastava has acted in quite a few Kannada films. “We are shooting a scene in a pub, which looks like those from Western movies. I play a reporter meeting a police office in this bar as he spends his time here instead of the police station. The set is amazing and the film will be a very different commercial film,” explains the actor.
People behind the film
Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah, who is co-producing the film, says, “Today we are shooting combinations of Rakshit and Shanvi. We have shot at this studio for quite some time now. The set will be changed to a fort soon. The set up is a little like a Western saloon found in Texas. In the film, the pub is owned by a character who is well-travelled. Rakshit plays a cunning cop. It will be a total entertainer.”
Director’s cut
Sachin, who makes his debut as a director with this film, says, “It is a fictional fantasy kind of a film. We have created our own universe with characters, created in our minds. The entire film takes place in a fictional village called Amravati. There will be dacoits, a strange cop and lots of humour. The film will keep you in splits and is centred around Narayana (Rakshit), who is smart and cunning in the way he handles situations.
The lead point
Rakshit, who plays the title role, takes a break between shots to speak with us. “Narayana is an intelligent man, who keeps you guessing what he is doing through out the film. He is witty and will keep you on tenterhooks.
The title is inspired from Annavarau’s (Dr Rajkumar) film Bhakta Prahalada, where the character of Prahalad says, avane sriman naryana, describing his god.We took the title, as it is catchy. Since Narayana is intelligent, we as writers took time to put ourselves in his shoes to think and react like him,” says Rakshit before rushing back to his position to continue shooting. It is 7 pm now. He gets his face touched up yet again, Sachin calls instructions into the loud speaker, and Chawla stares at his camera again....we quietly leave from the back door.
This column takes you behind the scenes
