This summer, as Krish Jagarlamudi was working towards the release of his Hindi directorial Gabbar is Back , not many knew that he was quietly completing a pet project, Kanche . Gabbar is Back played to the gallery and made its way past Rs.100 crore mark. This was a different identity from what Krish had established himself in Telugu with Gamyam, Vedam and Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum . Kanche , Krish feels, will blur ‘the kanche (fence)’ between these two identities. Releasing on October 22, Kanche is a love story set during World War II.
“This is my most ambitious project,” Krish says, as the list of things to do mount before the release date. The seed for this project was sown when he was shooting for Vedam when he spotted archival articles in The Hindu, outlining the ramifications of WWII closer home.
“I haven’t seen a film about WWII from an Indian point of view. I don’t know if my father or grandfather have. When I learnt that nearly 25lakh Indian soldiers were involved in WWII, I thought there would be that many stories to narrate. I am narrating one,” says Krish. When he discussed it with his family and close friends, there was excitement. In the industry, there was scepticism. There were questions on its viability — a big budget film that isn’t playing by the formula, starring a one-film-old actor. “I didn’t want negativity, so I stayed quiet till the final stages,” says Krish.
Varun Tej was Krish’s first choice to play Captain Dhupati Hari Babu. Krish was supposed to direct Varun’s debut project and had written a script but stepped back because he wasn’t convinced of the climax. “Varun is a terrific actor. If he hadn’t played the role, the soul of the film would have been lost,” says Krish.
He had auditioned Pragya earlier and felt she would be apt for this film. “She is beautiful, looks regal and long after Soundarya, I feel we have found a talented actress in her.”
The invisible fences
Dhupati Hari Babu (Varun) and Sita Devi (Pragya) meet in erstwhile Madrasapattinam, fall in love and decide to get married, a decision that shakes up their small village, Devarakonda. “Fences are erected between people by outside sources. We have segregated people on the basis of nationality, regions, religion, language, caste and economic status. Madrasapattinam was divided into different regions and recently we have gone through the division of Andhra Pradesh leading to the formation of Telangana State. I saw the mirror image of divisions at a micro level with the divisions during WWII. The WWII is the biggest event that shook the world in the last 100 years. There hasn’t been such an event since then and there shouldn’t be. Hopefully we have learnt our lessons,” says Krish.
He wanted a seamless blend of issues at a micro and macro level in this story. The writing went though four stages over three and a half years, he says.
The actors went through a boot camp, during which Krish saw the transformation in Varun and Col. Eeshwar Prasad (Nikitin Dheer, who played Thangabali in Chennai Express). Varun and Nikitin are soldiers posted in the Italian border, carrying with them the baggage of enmity from Devarakonda. The story goes back and forth, discussing the journey. The film also stars Srinivas Avasarala as Dasu Avasarala who keeps quoting his friend Srinivasa Rao, referring to writer Sri Sri.
Krish says the shooting “was a lot of fun”. This fun included sending teams to different countries to look for weapons, utility items and automobiles of that era. He had the help of art director Sahi Suresh and cinematographer V.S. Gnanashekhar. “Those rifles are heavy. We hired weapons, army tankers, automobiles and even cups and saucers of that period. Some vehicles were not in working condition and we had to make them pliable on roads.”
Each time an actor came across a sniper rifle with marks, the team wondered about the soldier who was using it, the circumstances he was in and the end result. Long trenches were dug to shoot the war sequences. The team shot in and around Georgia and closer home, in areas near Peruru agraharam. “The village was happy because wherever we shot, we laid road,” he laughs.
Krish brims with confidence as he talks about Kanche and says, “The bar for period/fantasy films have been raised with Baahubali and Rudhramadevi . I have the responsibility to live up to that standard. And I am 100 per cent happy with Kanche .”
