Arundhati’s spell The drummers are out with the success story of ‘Arundhati’. Who scripted the B-O magic?
Shyam Prasad Reddy is restless. There is a smile on his face with reports of the business of Arundhati trickling in. Pacing the floor in the editing room, he points out the treadmill, the music collection, the sofa and a telephone which have been his companions for the past few months.
The producer is used to success, be it Talambralu, Ahuti, Ankusam, Aagraham, Ammoru but the debacle of Anji was a setback. He cut himself off from the industry for sometime only to comeback with this brilliant script called Arundhati. The period drama was an offshoot of the many after-dinner story sessions of his mother-in-law with the the family. Shyam’s mother-in-law, the wife of former chief minister Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy, is from the Gadwal royal family and is the daughter of the third wife of the Gadwal Maharaja.
Shyam doesn’t deny a Chandramukhi hangover but stresses that he was keen on having the audience in mute with a flashback episode. The flashback scenes took 106 days out of 250 shooting days. A lot of effort went into research, collection of photographs and sourcing for the artistes’ costumes. “I didn’t want the set to look tacky,” says Shyam who spared no expense. The 180-ft set at Annapurna was extended to another floor to make place for the palace and for the exterior, the team spotted a fort on a hillock at Baniganepalli in Kurnool. Two months prior to the shoot, the place was spruced up, lawns were grown, pathways appeared quickly, statues erected and the fort was painted to get a luminous feel.
Ramesh, who handled the make up for Kamal Haasan in Dasavataram made the artistes look real. Sai Kumar’s brother Ravi did the dubbing for Sonu Sood’s voice.
The memorable part of the movie is a drum dance in which Anushka hits a circle of drums with long drapes of cloth which is followed by an inescapable crossing of swords which has been filmed with so much artistry. Shyam says the scene was inspired from a Chinese film The House of Flying Daggers.
Anushka was more than a pretty face, she captured the arrogance, royal look of a heiress and also as a vulnerable Arundhati. A tall frame of 5ft 10 inches was just what the movie required for the protagonist’s role.
Shyam reserves a major part of his praise for Rahul Nambiar, his creative director who stepped in at a time when the film was fizzling out at one stage and took charge as a special effects supervisor. He says, “With his entry I got back all my energy, he did what I had in my mind. We did not go home for months.”
Obviously, when movie buffs talk of magic of cinema, maybe they are referring to moments like this.
CG whiz
A graduate of Fine Arts from Baroda, Rahul Nambiar, has been in Hyderabad for the past seven years shaping his dream and supervising special effects of movies like: Chatrapati, Style, Indra, Tagore being a few. Rahul’s association with Shyam Prasad Reddy began with Anji. For Arundhati he ensured the visual effects complemented the story.
Bringing the frames together
* Numerous designers toiled to create Anushka’s wedding costume with a veil that weighed 22 kg. Over eight lakh was spent on each of the four identical costumes that got their embellishment in the Charminar area. The filmmaker made Anushka wear the costume and walk down the stairs to make sure that it made her look like royalty.
* Motion capture crane from Australia with a technician who worked in the Lord Of The Rings, were used to shoot the pre-title episode in which the building starts morphing.
The pre-title episode and climax when a pillar falls was in complete dust environment. The lead pair Anushka and Sonu Sood were covered in dust in the dust factory.
* 160 bullets were fitted into the chandelier so that its crash looks graphic when it falls on the villain. The scene was shot in 72 frames per second to capture the motion. At the press of a button, thousands of glass pieces shattered.
* For the drum dance Anushka had to imagine that she had a cloth in her hand and the syncing was done with CG.
| On Location |
| Music |
A singer with promise Richly voiced Vasantha Subbalakshmi needs to build on her repertoire.
| Dance |
One fine ballet ‘Kumara Vijayam’ was well scripted and choreographed.
| Drama |
| Events |
Singing ghazals in Telugu Guinness Book record holder ‘Ghazal’ Srinivas lauded for ‘maha’ effort.
A five-day musical affair Veteran musician, devotees and their contributions towards music remembered.
Showcasing talent Raga Sudha paid tributes to Thyagaraja.
Puranam awarded A matter of pride for the musicians of our state.
| Miscellany |
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