Kannada film shot in two hours

A Kannada film is all set to enter the record books for finishing shooting in a single shot in less than two hours on the auspicious occasion of Guru Poornima on Tuesday.

The film, which is directed by Aravind Kaushik, is titled Namma Arealli Innondu Dina (Another day in our area).

Five 5D cameras, two Go-Pro cameras, a Red digital camera and a steady camera started rolling simultaneously at a semi-urban locality in Bangalore at 8am when the director said 'action', and stopped a little before 10 am when the director shouted 'cut', without a single retake.

Namma Arealli Innondu Dina is a real-time drama of eight different characters against a single backdrop. All the sub-plots merge at the climax. There are two songs and three fight sequences and only one heroine.

Says Aravind Kaushik, "This was the result of one year of hard work. We couldn't afford to make even a single or small mistake during the shoot. I am relieved everything went off well, without any glitches, thanks to all the actors and technicians."

As part of the preparation in the run-up to this feat, Kaushik says the whole team underwent more than 40 days of rehearsals and practice and close to two weeks of dress rehearsals on location.

The location chosen was a coffee shop with houses, a playground, a small garden and narrow roads, resembling a semi-urban milieu, which was calm even if it was not far from the hustle bustle of city life.

The 21-member camera team was handled by debutant Prasad and was ably assisted by a seven-member directorial team.

Namma Arealli Innondu Dina stars upcoming artistes drawn from theatre and television. Actors who play the lead roles are Ravishankar, Satya, Raghu Shivamogga, Kailash, Pathre Ajit, Ravi Teja, Chethan Chandra and Rishabh Shetty, with Roopika being the sole female lead. Veteran actor Achyut Rao makes a special appearance.

The film is produced by cinematographer Anaji Nagaraj who earlier created another record in Kannada filmdom when he made Sugreeva, a Shivarajkumar-starrer, in about 18 hours.

According to Nagaraj, the film is likely to be released in August. The movie will be two hours and ten minutes long.

Arjun Janya has scored the music; Kaushik clarifies that the film will have three background songs for which no additional footage will be shot.

Aravind Kaushik shot to fame three years ago as a young turk in Gandhinagar, the hub of Kannada cinema, with his first film titled Namma Arealli Ondu Dina (A day in our area).