JOIN USCharlie behind the camera
The crew of ‘777 Charlie’ had all of one minute of permission to shoot on a main road of Sakleshpur, five hours from Bengaluru. Shooting any longer would lead to a traffic pile-up, they were told. The scene was to splash water on a Labrador. Everybody was ready except for the puppy herself!
“Perhaps she sensed that we were going to splash water on her,” Kiranraj K, the film’s director, recalls the day. “She turned around and ran fast in the opposite direction. We had to run behind her and, eventually, that day’s shoot was cancelled,” he laughs. Food packets by Kiranraj and tricks by the professional dog trainer they had hired — nothing worked.
‘777 Charlie’, Kiranraj’s debut film on a loner whose life takes an unexpected turn after a dog enters his life, is running to full houses. Kiranraj grew up in the town of Kasaragod in Kerala, where his house was always full of dogs, cats and cows. “Animals were treated like children in my home. I have seen them create a mess and I have incorporated those ideas in the film. So the film is partly autobiographical,” he admits.
But it is one thing to be a pet lover and another to shoot with them, Kiranraj would learn. He had to first get his script cleared by the Animal Welfare Board of India. When that came through, the focus shifted to figuring how to shoot with dogs and draw a natural emotional performance out of them.
“I searched for many behind-the-scenes videos of Indian films on animals but with no luck. Many films had used VFX but I was interested in shooting with them. I also couldn’t find the making of ‘Hachiko’, hailed as one of the greatest dog movies. Thankfully, I came across a brilliant Hungarian film called ‘White God’. It features around 150 street dogs and three-four breeds. The makers had put up explainer videos and interviews with the film’s director and dog trainer,” Kiranraj shares.
This gave him the confidence to go ahead with his film and hire a dog trainer. “I had made a list of 400-450 tasks that I wanted the dog to do but a lot of trainers said these were impossible to achieve. It was then that director Hemanth M Rao (‘Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu’, ‘Kavaludaari’) recommended Pramod’s name,” he says.
Gladly, Pramod was up for the challenge and willing to commit his time, a whole lot of time, to the shooting, which lasted 167 days.
If Pramod helped Charlie excel in every scene, Kiranraj ensured the furry actor was comfortable around so many strangers on the sets. “Charlie’s food drive was great. She performed most of the tasks because we promised her food. We had ten variety of treats for her (at any point). She did gain weight, so we put her on a treadmill (to keep her fit),” he says.
Charlie was a star on the sets by all means. She had a caravan to go shooting outside the city. “When we shot with portable arc lights, we arranged a mini swimming pool to keep her cool. We never forgot the basics like taking her to veterinary clinics on a regular basis and providing a good sleeping facility,” informs Kiranraj.
The hard work of more than five years has paid off. “Many lonely people told me that they are planning to adopt dogs. People’s perception about dogs, especially streeties, has changed,” says Kiranraj.
And not to forget, viewers have already judged Charlie the best actor in the film.
Science-based training
Pramod, an internationally-certified dog trainer, is busy giving interviews as ‘777 Charlie’ continues to mint money at the box office. “My job was complicated,” he tells Showtime. “Physical methods and negative reinforcements are not enough to bring the desired performance out of dogs. I had to adopt science-based tricks and understand their psychology instead. I catered to Charlies’ food drive by giving ‘work to their brain’. What must I do to get the food, they started thinking in return,” he shares.
An even bigger challenge was to extract a natural performance and leave no trace that the dogs were acting on command. Pramod achieved this by using voice modulations and breaking down the tasks. “Take the scene where Charlie hugs Dharma in Kashmir. It had ten commands for the dog, right from sitting to turning to slowly walking towards Dharma and resting the head on his shoulders. This was an emotional scene so I talked to Charlie softly,” he recalls.
Great results
Adopt, don't shop -- The film's message has spurred interest. Sudha Narayanan, founder trustee of Charlie's Animal Rescue Centre in Bengaluru, can attest as she says,"Online inquiries for adoption have increased."