Puneeth Rajkumar lives on in swansong

Chethan Kumar, director of 'James' speaks to Vivek M V, on bringing out the late actor's last commercial film after his shocking demise four months ago

Director Chethan Kumar with Puneeth on the sets of 'James'.

'James', Puneeth Rajkumar’s last commercial film, will hit the screens worldwide on March 17. It is touted to be the actor’s biggest ever release, naturally, as fans haven’t still completely recovered from the shock of his sudden demise last October.

Apart from ‘James’, Puneeth will be seen in Amoghavarsha’s documentary film on Karnataka’s wildlife. He has also played a cameo, which involves shaking a leg with Prabhu Deva, in Nagendra Prasad’s ‘Lucky Man’.

That said, ‘James’, an action drama that sees Puneeth playing an Army man, will be the final time a new commercial release of the actor will be celebrated in a grand scale. and Director Chethan Kumar, who has handled the precarious situation of guiding his team in the face of a tragedy, spoke to Showtime about his experience of handling the biggest challenge of his career. Excerpts:

In what stage was ‘James’ when you heard the shocking news? How did you handle the situation?

The film’s action and talkie portions were done when Puneeth sir passed away. One duet and some patch works were remaining. We all went into a state of shock. Some crew members panicked. We took a break for 15 days as we needed some time to cope with the situation. When we resumed work, our only aim was to plan the film for a March 17 release. By February 5, the film’s dubbing got completed, which is when we received demands from distributors for its pan-Indian release.

The decision to have a five-language release at the last moment must have been challenging…

It definitely was. Our first target was to drop the teaser as scheduled. From February 5 till the launch of the teaser, my team worked for 18 hours every day. We worked on quality dubbing and by February 11, as planned, the teaser was out. I had to also release the lyrical video of the ‘Trademark’ song in five languages. In total, we recorded 25 tracks across five languages.

It helped that senior music composer Harikrishna offered to do the re-recording of the film. Harikrishna is experienced as he has worked on more than 100 films, and is familiar with big canvas music/re-recording. Charan Raj focused completely on the songs. Many movies release the dubbed version one after the other. To bring out the film in five languages on the same day is an onerous task.

How did you handle your emotional state of mind to steer the ship?

Trust me, I still can’t digest the fact. Sometimes I feel really low thinking about what happened. But my team and I see it as a responsibility to fulfil Puneeth sir’s wish. His energy and our memories with him are driving us forward, to bring out his last commercial film in a grand manner.

As a young filmmaker, what is it that you love about a star like Puneeth? What kind of a movie did you want to make for him?

If you see the teaser, you will know the difference between Puneeth Rajkumar in ‘James’ and in other films. When I started work for this film, I thought about showcasing Puneeth Rajkumar uniquely on screen. So be it his look (hairstyle and costumes) or the overall teaser, ‘James’ looks fresh.

Puneeth sir’s biggest audience is the family crowd. We can’t think beyond them while penning a story for him. I have no aversions towards family dramas but what matters is the way you deliver your content. People will love the emotions in the film.

In the week ahead of the film’s release, how much do you miss Puneeth?

We obviously miss Puneeth sir. The hero is the most important person in all promotional campaigns. But for the first time, fans are promoting a film. The celebrations across the state have been massive and relentless. Usually, the film team thinks of unique promotional strategies whereas in this case, people are showing so much love and have generated immense buzz for ‘James’.

Puneeth was an ardent lover of world cinema. What did you learn about the craft of filmmaking from him?

He was always updated about filmmaking and world cinema. One of his great qualities was that he would never force or throw his knowledge on others. He won’t expect you to like his taste for films. There have been numerous discussions with him on cinema. At the end of the day, he had the ability to perform to the sensibilities of his directors.

Are you nervous or scared about the expectations from ‘James’?

I am very emotional and am trying to overcome one of the biggest tragedies of my life. No incident can break me anymore as I have faced the toughest situation ever. Ahead of the day, we are all satisfied with our work. ‘James’ will be released in 21 countries. No Kannada film had achieved this kind of reach before. Puneeth sir deserves pan-India celebrations.

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