<p>How do you shoot a boy-meets-girl story during a lockdown? Padmaja Rao, well-known actor, director and producer, has the answer.</p>.<p>She is the brain behind the Kannada short film ‘<span class="italic">Ondu Giftina Kathe</span>,’ in which a phone call to a wrong number ends up sparking a potential romance.</p>.<p>The 30-minute film has 11 actors shot by 10 cameramen, all working from home. The locations cover Bengaluru, besides two cities in the US and Canada.</p>.<p>The film features well-known actors Sudha Belawadi, Sunetra Pandith, Ramesh Pandith, and Girish Jathi and younger actors Anirudh Mohan, Tanuja Shanmugham, Sughosh Rao and Apoorva.</p>.<p>“The idea happened by chance and I started penning down the script almost immediately,” says Padmaja. It took the team just over two weeks to conceptualise and execute the film.</p>.<p>The film begins with a man and woman fighting over the phone, and eventually warming up to each other.</p>.<p>Praveen D Rao has scored the music for the film and plays one of the main characters.</p>.<p>“We used our mobile phones as cameras and our family members as cinematographers. Most of them had no experience whatsoever. But we are happy with the overall outcome, keeping in mind the limited resources we had,” he says.</p>.<p>Praveen has incorporated a song, ‘<span class="italic">Baala Bhavageeteyalli</span>’, by Nagaraj Shastry.</p>.<p>The lyrics were written in the course of a Facebook initiative started by Praveen to tag lyricists, composers and singers and encourage collaborations during the ongoing lockdown.</p>.<p>“While I acted out and shot the characters played by younger artistes for their reference, the seasoned actors just needed the script and they improvised. Most of us senior artistes haven’t met the younger ones,” says Padmaja.</p>.<p>The editors, she jokes, had a hard time.</p>.<p>“I have troubled the editors, Santosh GR and Uday, so much that they will block me from their contacts. They have done a wonderful job of putting it all together,” she says.</p>.<p>The film was posted on YouTube on April 25 and telecast on a news channel the same evening. “Forgiving the technical glitches, people have responded positively by writing reviews and identifying their favourite scenes,” says Praveen.</p>.<p>Can we expect something more from the team? “We are contemplating a light-hearted sequel or a web series,” says Padmaja.</p>
<p>How do you shoot a boy-meets-girl story during a lockdown? Padmaja Rao, well-known actor, director and producer, has the answer.</p>.<p>She is the brain behind the Kannada short film ‘<span class="italic">Ondu Giftina Kathe</span>,’ in which a phone call to a wrong number ends up sparking a potential romance.</p>.<p>The 30-minute film has 11 actors shot by 10 cameramen, all working from home. The locations cover Bengaluru, besides two cities in the US and Canada.</p>.<p>The film features well-known actors Sudha Belawadi, Sunetra Pandith, Ramesh Pandith, and Girish Jathi and younger actors Anirudh Mohan, Tanuja Shanmugham, Sughosh Rao and Apoorva.</p>.<p>“The idea happened by chance and I started penning down the script almost immediately,” says Padmaja. It took the team just over two weeks to conceptualise and execute the film.</p>.<p>The film begins with a man and woman fighting over the phone, and eventually warming up to each other.</p>.<p>Praveen D Rao has scored the music for the film and plays one of the main characters.</p>.<p>“We used our mobile phones as cameras and our family members as cinematographers. Most of them had no experience whatsoever. But we are happy with the overall outcome, keeping in mind the limited resources we had,” he says.</p>.<p>Praveen has incorporated a song, ‘<span class="italic">Baala Bhavageeteyalli</span>’, by Nagaraj Shastry.</p>.<p>The lyrics were written in the course of a Facebook initiative started by Praveen to tag lyricists, composers and singers and encourage collaborations during the ongoing lockdown.</p>.<p>“While I acted out and shot the characters played by younger artistes for their reference, the seasoned actors just needed the script and they improvised. Most of us senior artistes haven’t met the younger ones,” says Padmaja.</p>.<p>The editors, she jokes, had a hard time.</p>.<p>“I have troubled the editors, Santosh GR and Uday, so much that they will block me from their contacts. They have done a wonderful job of putting it all together,” she says.</p>.<p>The film was posted on YouTube on April 25 and telecast on a news channel the same evening. “Forgiving the technical glitches, people have responded positively by writing reviews and identifying their favourite scenes,” says Praveen.</p>.<p>Can we expect something more from the team? “We are contemplating a light-hearted sequel or a web series,” says Padmaja.</p>
