New Delhi, June 3 (UNI) Actor and filmmaker Rakshit Shetty, best known for his work in Kannada cinema, and who is all set to bring emotional rollercoaster ‘777 Charlie’, says in future it will be one Indian Cinema industry, sans the north-south divide. His next film is about a beautiful bond between a man and a dog, directed by debutant Kiranraj K and produced by Rakshit Shetty. In an exclusive interview with UNI, Rakshit expressed his thoughts on how making good content and exploring it in several markets is not wrong. “Every film if it has a market then it has to be explored. As simple as that. There are a lot of efforts that goes behind a film, and especially this film, shooting with a dog is not easy. And we know for a fact you can’t remake this film. “There can’t be another dog’s film for a long time. So when we made the film we had put the effort and everything and if there is a market if you don’t explore it then it’s a crime. You make good content, explore it in the market, it is not wrong,” Rakshit said. So what appeals to him about ‘777 Charlie’ that revolves around journey of a dog, Rakshit says, “Initially when the concept came to me, I was only a producer, I was not suppose to act in the film. I was already busy with another film, I was acting in that film. The director told me the concept about a dog coming into a human’s life and that human being changing because of the dog — that is what appealed to me a lot.
And that is when I decided I want to produce this film.” Rakshit described how shooting with the dog was a new challenge everyday. “I was not prepared for the kind of challenges which would come with the territory. But we faced it head-on. “Acting with a human being is very different because a dog doesn’t know how to act. It is only doing few tricks and it is taught to do so. And I was supposed to command using sign language. So it was really difficult — act as well as be the master.” “We had workshops with the dog before every schedule. Before we used to go on shoot, we used to have a one-two weeks of workshop with the dog. The dog used to listen to the trainer and his commands, but before going to the shoot I had to takeover and it was supposed to listen to me, so that everything passed off smoothly. “We have shot for 167 days, other than that we have trained with each other for another 200 days. Sometimes doing nothing we would still spend time together. There was a great bonding between me and Charlie,” the ‘Padde Huli’ fame actor said. Of how confident he was of debutant director Kiranraj K, Rakshit said, “He was an associate director in two of my films, and one of these was my own production also (Kirik Party), where I had written the script, so I knew Kiranraj well. “He is the most passionate and dedicated guy I have seen as an associate director.
So I knew whenever he would make a film, he would surely give his 100 per cent. I knew he would do a great job when it came to making his film. I was there throughout to see what’s happening, if not consciously but sub-consciously looking if things were going right. So I didn’t have any doubts as such.” On being a director himself if he gave any suggestion to Kiranraj on the set, Rakshit said, “Whatever tips I had to give I gave before going to the shoot. We work in the same office, so we kept discussing the film. But on the sets it’s completely a director’s call. He has to know everything about the film, so I never got involved there. I became a complete director’s actor.” If theatrical release was his first choice, the ‘Avane Srimannarayana’ actor said, “There was definitely a time when we thought whether to go for an OTT release as we didn’t know when the theatres would reopen and there was a lot of money involved, so that thought definitely came to mind.” However, he added “then we thought once the film was ready we would watch it and take a call. When I watched the first edit, the feeling was surreal, so I knew it must have a theatrical release”. “What I experienced would be enhanced 100 times in theatre and people must have that opportunity. So all those doubts of releasing it on OTT platform just vanished.”
On how he relates to his character ‘Dharma’, Rakshit said, “Dharma is an introvert who doesn’t even talk to his neighbours, and doesn’t have a family or anything. When you take your life, career very seriously, you start disassociating yourself with the world. In some ways, there is a bit of Dharma inside me as well, at least when we started the film it was there inside me. “Whatever changes ‘Dharma’ went through, probably during the filming I went through as well. “Dharma learns to emote, probably that changeover I have questioned myself and probably I have got that answer inside me too.” On where does he see the South Film Industry in future, Rakshit said, “I believe in coming years there won’t be south and north industry. There will be just Indian cinema, and Indian cinema can have films of different languages.” Rakshit has completed over a decade in the film business. Talking about his graph and whether he has any regrets, the ‘Nam Areal Ond Dina’ actor said, “I don’t regret at all because I believe everything happens for a reason. Every success is your one step ahead and every failure is a learning curve. So I take life as it comes.” On where does he see himself in five years, Rakshit said he has few plans and if everything goes well then probably he will be doing a big film. “I will do films in Kannada only because today the market is such that you don’t have to come to Bollywood and do a Hindi film,” he said. On what can audience expect from the movie, Rakshit, who loves being a writer, said, “It’s going to be one emotional ride. It will make you laugh, smile and cry but at the end of it you will come out with a smiling face. It will give you an experience that probably you didn’t have had with any other film.” ‘777 Charlie’ is slated to release on June 10 in five languages theatrically across India.