When songs tell a story...

National-award winning actor Sanchari Vijay admits that he is cautious when it comes to choosing his projects. And his conviction is reflected in the roles that he does.

In his latest release, ‘Krishna Tulasi’, Vijay plays the role of a visually impaired person and the actor confesses that he thoroughly enjoyed portraying the character. “The story traces the life of a man who is visually impaired from birth. But that doesn’t stop him from chasing his dreams and trying to live a normal life. He does everything that normal people do, the only difference being that he is totally blind,” explains Vijay.

The actor had to do a bit of homework to understand the character. “The director wanted me to spend a few hours in a home for the visually challenged called ‘Belaku’ to understand the life, how they move around and go about doing their job,” he adds.

Vijay terms his role as “unusual” and says that he was, in fact, waiting for such a character to come his way. “It is when I visited the home for the visually challenged, that I saw that they played ‘goli’, chess and even ironed their own clothes. I was stunned when I saw how they went about their work without any difficulty. This was the challenge that I wanted to take up,” he adds.

In ‘Krishna Tulasi’, Vijay plays the role of a tourist guide. “People were surprised when I told them that I play a tourist guide. When you can’t see, how will you show people around? This was the common question that I got asked by a lot of people,” says Vijay. He adds that if one looks the scenes, it’s hard to believe that Krishna had no vision.

There’s a beautiful love story woven into the film and Vijay assures that it is no regular love story. “Krishna (Sanchari Vijay) meets Tulasi (Megha Sri) in a bus. The romance blossoms in a bus and the bus soon becomes the meeting point for the two people,” he says.

Another highlight of the film are the songs. The introductory song, whose lyrics are written by Yogaraj Bhat, features 50 visually impaired people. “This song is a tribute to the visually impaired who lead a tough life but don’t seem to complain but try make the best of life, given their limited means,” shares Vijay. He also says that the role was an emotionally intense one. “Every song has been written to suit the mood of that scene. This lends a lot of strength to the film as a whole,” says Vijay.

Beautiful love story
MEGHA SRI, actor says, “I play the character of a dubbing artiste and I dub for people from the film industry and for animation movies. Complementing Vijay’s character was a challenge. How the life of Krishna and Tulasi changed after they fell in love, forms the crux of the story. It is a beautiful tale of two lives.”

Kiran Ravindranath, Music director
Kiran says, “I have tried to bring in a common flavour into all the songs. There are five songs and they’ve all been written keeping the mood and tone of the scene in mind. I’ve experimented by blending Hindustani and Western contemporary beats. And the result is amazing.”

When asked about the unique aspect, Kiran says, “It is said that the visually impaired connect strongly to sound. We have made music the integral part of their lives and showcased how sound leads them on. We have shown how even the smell of flowers could spark off a song.”

The songlist of ‘Krishna Tulasi’

‘Lokana nammange’(ola gannu)
Lyrics : Yogaraj Bhat; Singer: Tippu
‘Yeno hosa nantu’
Lyrics : Hridaya Shiva
Singer: Armaan Malik
‘Namma Mysuru’
Lyrics : Dhananjay
Singer: Kiran Ravindranath
‘Khali kanninali’
Lyrics : Hridaya Shiva
Singers: Anuradha Bhat and
Rajesh Krishnan
‘Kandey iralilla’
Lyrics : Jayanth Kaikini
Singer: Varun Pradeep