It’s always a pleasure to watch a film that makes you ponder rather than pander to so-called popular taste. Satya Prakash tries to throw some ‘honest light’ on life and how situations evoke varied responses however ambivalent. The background score is a tad intrusive and the cinematography uneven but the colourful characters more than make up for it. ‘Rama Rama Re’ is an interesting, eventful journey and yes, like life, bumpy.
Every director making his debut whether the film is big or small has a story of struggle. Why romanticise that?
Honestly, I didn’t talk about it till I was asked. I said I don’t know how to convince a producer to put in money. When we decided to make the film we did approach a few but then I realised the fault lay in my abilities to narrate the story. That took a couple of years. We are a team of ten and we decided to pool in money and go ahead. We made sure we would not use any element that entails buying or renting, even a house.
The constraints probably sharpened your creative instincts.
That’s probably true. The screenplay took one and a half years to complete. Since every face that appears on-screen is fresh we had to flesh them out convincingly.
The most important element in the film is the jeep. A convict on death row is travelling with his possible nemesis. A couple on the verge of a fresh life jump in. Even a child is born in it. Is it a metaphor for life?
You’re right. We wanted a silent observer for the various events that take place. A human would have reacted but since it’s a road film the jeep was an easy option. I also wanted to conduct the marriage of the couple in the jeep but it was too claustrophobic.
Making a small film is easier than getting it released.
Our team made the film in instalments. We would raise money and then plan a schedule. Each one would pool in according to his ability to borrow. This worked to our advantage since not a rupee was wasted. The jeep cost one and a half lakh rupees. We were fortunate to meet a distributor, Vasupradha Sudhir who watched the film and promised to help.
When a film takes so long to make the script tends to change too in the name of improvisation.
That’s right. We’d make changes at the location too. The basic content didn’t change too much though. What looked very good on paper sometimes was difficult to transform on-screen because of the inexperience of the actors. Many scenes were changed.
Today everyone is crediting the success to Satya Prakash but you say it was a team effort.
Natraj and Dharmanna are my childhood friends. We are from the same town. Lavith, the cinematographer has been with me since my short, ‘Jayanagara 4th Block’. Kemparaju, the editor is the backbone. The film is made under his banner. He edited the film for free. Vardaraj Kamat the art director helped in refurbishing the Jeep. Siddagangayya Kambala patiently collaborated with me on the screenplay.
An actor playing an important character, Jayaram passed away after a major portion was shot.
He’s one of the main reasons for this film getting made. He loved the character. I feel so bad that he’s not here to watch the film and the positive reactions. He was the one who pumped energy into the entire team. He should have been here.
Dharmanna has emerged the scene stealer amongst the cast with his impeccable comic timing.
He has featured in a lot of comic plays made by Yeshwant Deshpande. He’s a seasoned performer. Since I know him for the past decade I know his body language and reactions. The character developed as we shot.
The social media and people like Rakshit Shetty have helped promote your film a lot.
Absolutely. Nobody knew about the film till we released the trailer. People advised us to advertise in newspapers but we ran out of money. The reaction to the trailer was encouraging. Multiplexes cut the number of shows on the first day itself for lack of attendance. Rakshit, Dhananjay and a few others watched the film of their own volition and started praising it. The media too helped by publishing articles about the film. All this helped.
The trade claims it’s a hit. Is it true?
The film has been released in multiplexes with minimal shows. We have about thirty screens but that’s till today.
Around ten films are getting released today, they say. The interest for the amount we raised is mounting. I doubt we’ll get back our investment. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Just for the information of prospective directors what does a film like ‘Rama Rama Re’ cost?
We planned it on a budget of around forty lakhs. That doubled because of various reasons. We were shooting about 25 kms from Bijapur. A break in schedule did not help at all. We had to come back and return which was like a fresh start.
