The Covid-19 pandemic brought along a gale of disaster for the theatres. On October 15, when they were allowed to open, albeit with strict Covid-19 precautionary norms in place, a number of Kannada movies re-released. One among them was ‘Shivaji Surathkal: The Case of Ranagiri Rahasya’, featuring Ramesh Aravind. Metrolife caught up with the film’s director Akash Srivatsa and got him to speak about the new normal and more.
How does it feel to return to the theatre after so long?
I visited one theatre over the weekend and noticed that there has been a slight increment in the number of people coming to the theatre as compared to the first day of the re-opening. The film was released in 10 to 12 screens and now it’s running in almost 25 to 30 screen across the State.
'Shivaji Surathkal' was released on an OTT platform, can you tell us more about that?
Shivaji had a good run in the theatres. It also had an OTT premier on Zee 5 and world television premiere on Zee Kannada. It has been a consistent performer. When the film was released in theatres, the Hindi remake and the dubbing rights had already been sold. We are in discussion about the same in other southern languages and that’s a good sign.
With theatres shut for months, people are used to watching content on OTT platforms.
Do you see it as a challenge for directors that they have to now make films that cater to the OTT audience as well?
The pandemic has given the industry a nice platform like the OTT. You have seen some films release directly on OTT and some in theatres first and then on OTT. This gives filmmakers a choice and it’s a welcome sign. I would give a cricket example: OTT is like T20 and theatres are like ODI. Players who play for ODI can play for T20 and visa-versa.
Are you working on the film’s sequel?
I started working on ‘Shivaji 2’ right after the release. The pandemic has given me a blessing to work. Work from home has been a pleasure since there were no disturbances. I had been on video calls with Ramesh Aravind and writer Abhi. We have been bouncing ideas and working on the sequel. ‘Shivaji 2’ will be made on a bigger scale and the challenges for Shivaji will be more complicated and bizarre.
How is the work culture changing in the industry in the new normal?
Things are slowly opening up. I have been teaching film screenplay and direction at the G academy, which is by director Guru Deshpande. As a part of the course, we filmed a short movie which had the same grammar like that of the cinema. Because of the pandemic, we had to restrict the number of people on set; maintain social distancing, wear masks, carry out temperature checks and using sanitisers were mandatory.
It’s a good culture. It keeps the entire unit healthy. As the shoot progressed, everyone was accustomed to a new way of working. Scriptwriting has become more disciplined now. We have all the writers on a zoom call. The work culture has changed for the better.