A chance encounter on a busy intersection in Bangalore street was the genesis of the idea behind A DayIn The City , a Kannada movie directed by IT professional-turned-director Venkat Bharadwaj. “At Koshys, I saw this man who was travelling in a Audi car park it in the wrong lane, despite being warned by a traffic cop. It had me thinking about the manner in which influential people can get away with breaking rules, with any consequences. We see such incidents on a daily basis, though none of us make an effort to change this.”
He adds: “I had directed some small documentaries and music videos before this movie. This is not a social commentary. It is a thriller of sorts, with a very important message. It is about a set of events that can happen in any city in India. It is the tale of a hardworking government official in the city. Though it has been shot in Bangalore, people across the country will be able to connect with it.”
Venkat contends that we often blame the government and its officials for all the ills that plague our society, the lack of infrastructure and safety. “In this movie, I have made an attempt to show that there are honest hardworking officials who try their best to bring about a change in society.”
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Venkat also chairs the Earth Awareness Foundation, which uses films to create public awareness.
This movie has been co-produced by C.V Shivashankar, Venkat’s father, a veteran of the Kannada, Tamil and Telugu movie industries himself. “I was born into the Industry. I knew how it worked and was able to manage shooting schedules with ease. As far as the actors were concerned, Venkat depended on his friends working in IT jobs across the city.”
“I have a huge group of friends, mostly from the tech and IT circle, who share my passion for cinema. I wrote the story based on people I personally knew. Most of the actors were first timers, though some of them had acted in theatre. Matching the work schedules with the movie schedule was difficult but we managed to complete the movie in a little under a year.”
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How does Venkat manage to balance his work schedule at an IT firm, and find to direct music videos and short films.
“I try and find time to manage my work with my love for cinema. We used to make time out and work on weekends. Co-ordinating the shoot was a tough ask, but we managed to complete it without major hassles.”
Venkat quips, “I believe screenplay is very important and goes a long way in ensuring a strong storyline. It talks about the issues of good governance in our cities, the need to eradicate corruption and establish an efficient legal system.”
The onus to bring change rests on every individual also, says Venkat. Prosperity, he adds, must be accompanied by better civic sense and compliance of rules.
Venkat says that most of the marketing for the film was done via social media channels and word-of-mouth. “We released a movie trailer on Youtube and it has been well received.”