Iruvudellava Bittu shows city tensions

If Kanthraj Kanalli’s debut directorial ‘Jalsa’ was an out and out commercial film, his latest release, ‘Iruvudellava Bittu’, is a modern day take on love and relationships.

Kanthraj vouches that this is a content-driven film that tells a heart-wrenching story through its characters.

He says the film is targeted at those aged between 20 and 35 years.

“There’s a strong connection between the pace of the city life, love and relationships. Youngsters focus on earning a hefty salary, buying a house and hanker after a luxurious life but they don’t really value what they already have in hand. This is the crux of the story,” he explains.

The story is knit around three people- Meghana Raj who plays the character of Purvi, Tilak who plays Dev and debutant actor Shri Mahadev who plays Akash.

“Meghana is an extremely ambitious and career-driven girl, Dev is someone who believes in living every moment and in contrast to these two characters is Shri whose only ambition is to have a good family,” adds Kanthraj.

Will Purvi’s and Dev’s live-in relationship work? What happens when Purvi enters Shri’s life? These are some of the things that the film answers, says Kanthraj. He also adds that all the songs in the film have been written and tuned to suit the emotions of the current crop of youngsters.

“There’s a song that talks about how all emotions starts with the eye and plays on that” he adds.

Shri Mahadev

Non-film background: “This is my debut film. I don’t come from a film background and don’t have connections in the film industry. I am not a trained actor and whatever I have learnt is what I picked up on the job.”

The character: “I play the character of Akash, an orphan. His only aim in life is to have a good family. He owns a toy shop.”

Most challenging scene: There’s a scene where I have to talk to dolls and make it as interactive as possible. That was quite challenging.”

Meghana Raj

“This is a very urban tale and something that everybody can relate to. I have three shades in the film and it was a huge challenge to play each of them to perfection. I enjoyed playing my character because it is nothing like what I am in real life. Purvi (Meghana Raj) is obnoxious, self-centred and caught up in her own ambition. The change from who she is to what she becomes is interesting. The chemistry she shares with Dev (Tilak) and Akash (Shri) is extremely different. The two can’t be compared at all.”

Tilak

“I play a character called Dev who represents today’s youngsters. He works in the corporate sector and is a very practical guy who believes that one can’t blame the society for what’s happening and believes in doing one’s bit to bring about change. He also doesn’t believe in the sanctity of marriage and that’s precisely why he has a live-in relationship with Purvi (Meghana).”

Tilak says that the film is a modern day take on what’s happening around us and how we go after what we don’t have but we don’t pay attention to what we really have.