After the runaway success of his
film
, one would assume that
Raj B Shetty would gravitate towards doing another commercial venture. On the contrary, Raj has chosen to act in a dark noir, titled
Gandhi, with a whole new team. The uniqueness of the film is that it is being directed by Rahul Menon, a fresh graduate from a communication school in
Manipal.
The team, including the technical side and the cast, will comprise students who’re still pursuing their journalism course. And Raj’s explanation to all of this? “For me, it is about cinema. And the kind of raw passion that a student has towards the medium cannot be found elsewhere. Their minds are bursting with ideas that cannot even be imagined once you become a stereotypical filmmaker. They’re such a passionate bunch of youngsters that you cannot reign in their spirit. I like that,” says Raj.
After
Ondu Motteya Kathe, Raj was still soaking in all the post release success when this team approached him. “Rahul met my editor, he guided the team to me and I remember how Rahul hesitatingly told me that he had a noir subject in mind and if I’d act in it. And I immediately said yes. Why? Because at 20, I didn’t know what cinema was, and here was this boy with a script in hand and the confidence of shooting it straight up. My team is a happy bunch of teens. In fact, our music director is 17,” smiles Raj.
The film, he elaborates, is about a man who doesn’t like his identity and want to be a whole new person. “And every time he wants to run away from himself, he does something that he regrets and that in turn makes him want to run after this new identity even more. But what this new identity he is seeking even he doesn’t know. We have titled it Gandhi because he is a personality known for his goodness and somewhere all of us aspires to be that way,” shares Raj.
Marked with violence and predictably dark shades, the film will be largely shot in Manipal and Malpe. “I am a happy soul if I don’t have to move away from home for shoots. Thankfully, these guys chose to do exactly that,” laughs Raj.
