Inspired by life

Prajwal Devraj has been on a promotional spree for his home production Neenade Naa. Apart from the usual promotional strategies, Prajwal even took to virtual promotion, the first-of-its-kind in Kannada cinema.

“I went to the Google office and promoted the film on Google Plus Hangout. There were many windows out of which one had me and another one had an RJ who was hosting the event.

People could send their messages to me through her and we actually reached out to 10,000-15,000 people through this event,” he tells Metrolife. “This is the first time in Sandalwood that such a promotion has happened. Since I have also studied marketing, it was exciting for me,” he adds.

Prajwal could relate well to his role of an assistant director in Neenade Naa. “An assistant director’s job is really hard. So it was nice to portray the life of one on screen. The movie also carries the message of women empowerment — women face so many pressures in life and have to sacrifice on a number of things,” he notes.

More than anything else, the fact that it was a true story excited Prajwal more. “I met Kadhal Kandas, the director whose life the movie is inspired from, on a song schedule abroad. While returning to India, he narrated this story to me. I loved it and instantly finalised everything,” he recalls.

According to him, slice-of-life tales are always more interesting on screen. “There are so many things happening in life. All these always make for an interesting story,” he informs.

The movie is slated to release in August and Prajwal will have two more releases post that — Mrugashira and Romeo and Chaddhi Dost. “I jokingly call Mrugashira the Indiana Jones of Sandalwood.

The movie revolves around treasures and tribes but nothing surreal,” he laughs. “We shot in a dense forest near Kundapur, which is a Naxalite area and had to carry equipment weighing 30-40 kg around. But we didn’t face any trouble otherwise,” he exclaims. 

“Romeo and Chaddhi Dost is PC Shekhar’s movie and has my dad and me acting in full-length roles for the first time! He has done special appearances in my films earlier but this was the first time I had to stand up against him,” he informs.

“He plays a cop and I am convicted for murder. So there was a scene in which I had to shout at him and my knees were actually trembling while I did that,” he adds.

With each project close to his heart, he says, “Thankfully, these have been keeping me busy. I also will start shooting for a new film in the second week of September. It’s still under discussion.”