His first directorial venture was Simple Agi Ondh Love Story. The film caught the attention of audiences, as it had only two main characters — played by Rakshit Shetty and Shwetha Srivastav — and was largely devoid of glitz and glamour. Most of the film, which was produced by Suvin Cinemas and had music by Bharath BJ, was shot in one house with just two characters through the film. Manohar Joshi was the cinematographer.
Besides receiving accolades for its powerful narration, Suni came to be known as “Simple Suni” after the release of Simple Agi Ondh Love Story .
The man, who started off by working with director Dinesh Baboo, went on to work in many films, including School Master, which featured stalwarts like Vishnuvardhan, Suhasini Maniratnam and Tara, to name a few.
Soon, he decided to branch out on his own and write the script for Simple Agi Ondh Love Story . And, after that he went on to direct quite a few successful films, which include Operation Alamellamma and Chamak. He is currently busy with his latest film, Bazaar. The director switches to rewind mode and shares his journey with us.
“ I loved films and would write scripts and songs from a young age.
Every Friday, I would bunk classes — whether it was mathematics or a practical class, to watch a film in Navrang Theatre. Then I would come back home and listen to songs and re-write the lyrics with my own words. I have even won prizes for my work in school for this. It was with this passion that I approached the film industry to become a lyricist. It took me almost six months to find the right contacts. From there, I started meeting people, landed up at shooting spots and just spoke to everyone. One day, I met a photographer called Manju who put me in touch with Dinesh Baboo.
I worked with him on quite a few films. When I was asked if I had any experience, I said yes even though I had no clue about what was expected of me. I was scared I would lose this opportunity too, so I lied. During this time, I also wrote a few stories and Simple Agi Ondh Love Story was one. I started looking for a producer. It took a year for everything — the finance, location and actors — to fall in place. Finally, when a producer agreed to produce the film for one crore, when I had asked for two. Suddenly, he came down to 50 lakhs and then backed out.
My mind started working on how to make the same film for this small budget. I started by deleting characters and settled with just two characters. Then we chose only one location and I also re-wrote a few dialogues and gave my two characters the logic of imagination to bring the film alive.
How Rakshit came on board is also interesting. He had just made a film Tuglaq, which was shot using a digital camera. I approached him to find out more about the camera. We started meeting and discussing the film. That was also a time he was working on a short film, Confession of a Dustbin .
I loved his technical points and narrated the story of Simple Agi Ondh Love Story and we both decided to work together for this film and I offered him the lead role. Rakshit then suggested Manohar Joshi as the DOP as he too was familiar with a digital camera. Rakshit is also a technically sound guy and a dedicated actor, who gives his best to every scene.
We still did not have a producer, so we decided to produce the film by ourselves. I was joined by a few of my friends and my father too gave me some money and the film took off.
The making of the film was like a jolly trip for me. It was fun. But I still shudder when I think of the 150-year-old house where the mushroom scene was shot. A few snakes were slithering all through. We were shell shocked when we saw the first one. But the owners were calm and said they would do us no harm. We had to shoot even as we saw one or two of these reptiles slither past our feet. That still gives me the creeps.
As a director, I was suddenly burdened with many responsibilities and had to take mature decisions. When the post-production work was going on, I had nightmares as my film had just two people in it. I would wake up in the middle of the night and wonder how people would receive the film.
Once it hit the screens, I was relieved. It was nominated for a Filmfare Award and I was a happy man. People started approaching me to direct more films and that is how other films followed. That is how the industry is. You struggle when you are new. Once you click, people and work come in search of you.
As told to Shilpa Sebastian R
This column chronicles a filmmaker’s first attempt
