I don’t use songs as filler: Chaitanya

Film director K M Chaitanya used animation in two songs for ‘Aadyaa’ as the heroine moved to Germany. The film releases on February 21

My first film, ‘Aa Dinagalu’, was in 2007. The film was set in the 1980s and shot in 2006, it also marked the debut for several actors including Achyuth Kumar and Chetan.

The film was Agni Sridhar’s dream, and he was bold to give me my debut film. Thankfully it paid off and the film did well at the box office and was critically acclaimed.

I learnt most of what I know about filmmaking from Girish Karnad, as I had worked as an associate director with him for ‘Kanooru Heggadithi’. The film released in 1999 and I shifted to the small screen after that until my directorial debut.

We could have made ‘Aa Dinagalu’ a very violent film but we chose not to. At the time of ‘macchu longu’ (sickle-shaped weapons) films, we decided to keep the film real. Films like ‘Om’ and ‘Deadly Soma’ did well but we wanted to do something entirely different so that the audience could see a fresh approach.

After the film, I was advised to work on a commercial film, which is when action film ‘Suryakaanti’ happened. It was the first Kannada film to be shot in Uzbekistan and introduced Regina to the industry. The film did not fare well at the box office. It was a wake-up call for me and now in retrospect, I realise that it was a good thing. After a massive hit and a disaster, I found what I should do and not.

One thing that was clear to me thanks to my background in theatre was that I wanted to attempt different genres. I didn’t want to get into a comfort zone and make only one kind of cinema. There are many directors who feel they should stick to a genre, but I feel I should throw myself at the deep end of the pool every time. I have realised that if I test myself, it makes me more creative.

After ‘Suryakaanti’, I explored the genres of slapstick comedy, thrillers and emotional subjects. ‘Aatagara’ was the first film I did with Chiranjeevi Sarja.

I started working on my upcoming release ‘Aadyaa’ after ‘Aake’. Some portion of ‘Aake’ was pending, and we were waiting for the producers to restart the project.

When you almost finish a film, you get fidgety. This was when the producers of ‘Aadyaa’ approached me and Chiranjeevi was quite excited to take up the project. The film, which is a thriller, was very interesting to work on.

I had watched Sruthi Hariharan’s performance and asked her to play a crucial role in the project, and she agreed. Sangeetha Bhat had worked on an advertisement film I had done earlier and I had wanted to cast her since then. Once the cast was decided, we began to shoot.

After 35 days of shooting the film, the producers faced some issues and we couldn’t continue shooting.

We had committed to Dwarakish and Yogish Dwarakish to work on ‘Amma I Love You’. We completed the film and released it, and it worked well. After that, we resumed ‘Aadyaa’.

I have done three films with Chiranjeevi Sarja and share a good bond with him. I did a short acting-workshop for him for ‘Aatagara’. Post this, he would ask for rehearsals for all films and one can see that in his performance.

There were challenges in making the film happen. The shooting of two songs (which has Sangeetha in them) was left but she moved to Germany. We completed the songs with animation. I don’t use songs as filler. Songs take the story forward. A two-and-a-half-minute song can do the job of five scenes. Both the songs in ‘Aadyaa’ were crucial.

‘Aadyaa’, which will release on February 21, taught me a lot of patience because I had to wait to complete the film. The actors coordinated between themselves well; when one works with good actors, you naturally pick a lot from them.”

(As told to Tini Sara Anien)