The team of ‘777 Charlie’ is super excited about the upcoming release of the film’s teaser on June 6. Kiranraj, director of the dog-man relationship story, is thankful for the film’s four-and-a-half-year journey and is keeping his fingers crossed for a year-end release.
In a candid chat with Metrolife, he reveals more the challenges faced,
777 Charlie — how long has the process been?
We started the pre-production work of the film in 2017. I got a one-line story by 2016-end and narrated it to Rakshit, after which he decided to produce it. The whole process took around four-and-a-half years, with me writing the story for almost two years, while also researching dog behaviour and training.
Why is the teaser dropping on June 6? How long did it take to work on the teaser?
The date is important to our team as it is our lead actor, Rakshit Shetty’s birthday. We worked on it for almost six months. The teaser will be a montage conveying a story with a song playing.
Is the film’s shoot over? How soon will it hit the theatres?
Shooting visuals for the end credits of the film is left. Apart from this, the entire film is ready. We have our hopes pinned on the vaccination drive and the audience being receptive to watching films in the theatres and have a year-end release in mind.
We hear that the film will be dubbed in different languages. Which are the languages?
Yes. A wide reach is not the only reason for such a move though. When I discussed the plot with Rakshit, he rightly pointed out that the subject — animal-human bonding — is a universal one. He decided that we should release it pan-India, which is also why I reworked the script in a way that everyone relates to the story. Including Kannada, the film will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. In Malayalam, actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran will be presenting and distributing the film, and in Tamil, it will be by director Karthik Subbaraj. Discussions about Hindi and Telugu are still on.
How has your journey with Rakshit and Charlie been?
It has been an amazing and most memorable journey. It’s only through Rakshit’s support that I was able to finish the film, despite all delays and changes.
He was always a great support to keep the team steady and going through the years and accepted the time and effort needed to perfect scenes.
I learnt how to be more patient through Charlie (the dog in the film). I had to learn to be calm and pamper her well into getting get good shots. Finally, she became such an expert that she would clearly finish the task taught to her and then the moment I said ‘Cut’, she would start looking for her treat.
As a filmmaker, what have you learnt through ‘777 Charlie’?
‘777 Charlie’ taught me to be patient. When I started the process in 2017, I thought I would release the film in 2019, but the subject needed more time for relevant research and quality storytelling.
Once the project started, I was worried about how I would manage several nuances of filmmaking, but the film trained me well.
Did you face any roadblocks while filming?
I faced a lot of ups and downs throughout the film’s journey. At a certain point, my confidence level was low. Last year, when we were shooting in Punjab, the lockdown was announced. However, during the pandemic, we were able to complete a lot of post-production work.
A scene in the film was supposed to be shot in an indoor stadium with around 2,000 people, but due to the pandemic restrictions, we shot it on a set and worked on the scene with VFX.
We learned to film with a limited crew, follow hygiene and safety instructions, and manage scenes without compromising on the story.