Kannada star Suman Nagarkar, who made a comeback with her home production Babru, will next be seen in the Hindi film DOTS. The actor, popularly known as ‘Beladingala Baale’, shares the screen with Bollywood actor Shishir Sharma in DOTS, directed by Singapore-based director Shilpa Krishnan Shukla.
DOTS will have a virtual première on June 13 at 6 pm with a live stream of a question-and-answer session with the cast and crew. The film was originally planned as a five-episode web series. “The story turned out so well that the director decided to launch it as a feature film,” says an excited Suman over the telephone.
The film, which brings together 10 well-known actors from six different film industries, was shot remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown. Each episode features a conversation between two strangers who are brought together on an app called DOTS. “The film follows their lives through their online interactions. Acting in DOTS has been a unique experience as I was in Bengaluru, Shilpa in Singapore and Shishir in Mumbai while the film was being shot, each from our own homes.”
Talking about her director, Suman says, “Shilpa has directed a lot of films, most of which have won awards. Her films have been screened at many film festivals. We connected last year at one such film festival and she offered me a role in DOTS. Initially, some of us were sceptical as the film was being made virtually. The discussions, rehearsals and the shooting... everything was done virtually. We were not sure how the logistics would work; but after seeing the end result, we all feel that it has turned out well.”
Like everything else, the camera work was also managed virtually. “We had rehearsals on video calls with the director. She would instruct us how and where she wanted the camera placed and our DOP from Mumbai would also talk us through every shot and even suggest the background for each shot.”
Watch the teaser on YouTube, and log on to facebook.com/DOTSthefilm for more details