‘Antagonist’s story should be more compelling than hero’s’: Filmmaker Deviprasad Shetty to DH

Writer-director Deviprasad Shetty’s ‘Second Case of Seetharam’, now showing, is a gritty cop drama. He tells Pranati A S why he keeps coming back to the genre

Deviprasad Shetty’s third film ‘Second Case of Seetharam’, now in theatres, opened to great response last week. 

It is the Kannada filmmaker’s third film and all three are cop dramas, the previous two being ‘Seetharam Benoy: Case No 18’ and ‘Case of Kondana’.

Shetty, who hails from Mangaluru, began working in cinema about 15 years ago. He started working as an associate director in Tulu films. “Tulu films are usually comed-driven. I was not very interested in comedy and I preferred to work in Kannada films,” he says. There wasn’t a prominent film industry in the coastal belt until the 2010s when Tulu films started becoming popular. 

Like most filmmakers, watching films inspired him to make them. “We used to watch a lot of movies growing up, especially Upendra films. There was a huge craze for his movies in Mangaluru,” he shares. 

Excerpts from an interview:

Why are you so keen on exploring police life?

It just happened. There is no real-life inspiration behind it. In fact, I had never written a cop drama before. It came purely out of convenience. We made ‘Seetharam Benoy: Case No 18’ during the Covid-19 pandemic. We produced it ourselves and had budget constraints. We could not afford elaborate sets. We found a school and converted it into a police station. We then set up a village, a small town, and so on.

The desire to make a film was the inspiration behind the three cop dramas.

After watching the first film on the big screen, I felt I could have done better. In an attempt to do that, I made ‘Case of Kondana’ and ‘Second Case of Seetharam’. I stuck to the same genre, as switching would have meant starting from scratch and relearning everything.

Do you plan to create a franchise? 

It can be done but there are no such plans. Both films stand independently. 

How did you bring so many elements together in ‘Second Case of Seetharam’?

When we shot ‘Case of Kondana’ in Bengaluru, there were many challenges. So we decided to set the next film against a village backdrop. It was again a cop movie with Vijay Raghavendra, set in a village. It did not make sense to introduce new characters and a completely different world, so we chose to build it as an extension of
‘Case No 18’.

I brought in the sister character for emotional depth. A review of ‘Kondana’ said that it was an open crime narrative, where the killer is revealed right at the beginning. I took that feedback seriously, along with other criticism of both films and worked on addressing those issues to make the script more layered and multi-dimensional. 

In most movies where the killer is a psychopath, the music is typically dark. I wanted to break away from that convention. That’s when I thought of using Karnatik music. 

Your villain is an anti-hero…

It was a subconscious decision. If you look at ‘Case No 18’ as well, the villain is essentially an anti-hero who seeks revenge against the cops because of the injustices he suffered. It’s the same in ‘Kondana’.

I don’t see the point in showing a villain as someone who is simply caught, or killed in a climax fight. Even a villain has his side of the story, and that story is important. I believe a story is driven by the antagonist, and they have to be more compelling than the protagonist. 

Your thoughts on super cops in movies.

That’s the concept of commercial cinema. It has its own writing and execution styles. Both kinds of cinema are essential. I have enjoyed watching ‘Singham’ and ‘Kempegowda’. They are massy and entertaining. 

All your films have been with Vijay Raghavendra...

We have a very good rapport. And I don’t think there is a better actor than him to play these kinds of roles. The entire team has also been the same. It’s just easy to work when there is already an understanding. 

You described making a film in Bengaluru as challenging.

Yes, especially when there are serious budget constraints. There are too many permissions required. For example, if we want to suddenly move to a new location, it cannot be done immediately. We have to apply for permissions 15 days in advance, often with associated fees. Coordinating location availability, and actors’ schedules, especially if two or three big stars are involved, can be more complicated than actually making a film. Bengaluru is a big city and it comes with its logistical challenges. 

And your next?

I’m writing another cop drama. I tried other ideas but they were not exciting enough. The genre is more favourable for me at the moment, especially because I don’t have the luxury of time to brood on other subjects. It also allows me to build on my past films, and learn from previous mistakes.