Bheemasena Nalamaharaja starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video from October 29. (Photo: Amazon Prime Video)Jeerjimbe director Karthik Saragur is ready to present his second feature film, Bheemasena Nalamaharaja, and the director shares that this is his way of paying homage to chefs.
During Jeerjimbe, Karthik realised it is not very easy to make a movie that doesn’t have elements of a commercial pot-boiler, but his challenges were quite different this time around. He revealed that the most challenging part was training the actors to cook using fire on the sets. The director said, “Aravind, for most of the shoot, was playing with the fire. If he was not proficient or familiar with the situation, he could have ended up getting burned. So the actors were well prepared to handle the situation.”
You have seen the song, watched us whip my favourite dish! I’m waiting to see your entries! Participate in #TannerMeedreChallenge now!. #BheemasenaNalamaharaja premieres on Oct 29, @primevideoin @pushkarfilms @paramvah_studios #LostNFoundFilms @aravinndiyer pic.twitter.com/uZ9zpPgW8B
— Aarohi Narayan (@its_me_aarohi) October 26, 2020
He added, “And we were doing a live sync-sound for the movie, so we could not have any exterior sound. We were playing with fire and perishable items so that was really difficult.”
The motivation to make Bheemasena Nalamaharaja stemmed from Karthik Saragur’s deep appreciation for chefs and the art of cooking. “I come from a family of chefs. It was not just a passion, it was everything for them. They even used kitchen slang to explain things to others in their everyday conversations. And having grown up watching them and their lifestyle, I wanted to pay homage to chefs,” he said.
The research about food led him to discover the unknown facts about India’s culinary culture. “I was not aware that Nala was India’s first food scientist. He wrote a commentary on food recipes and it called Pakadarpana. We wanted to bring that element to the movie. We have even shot a song showing Pakadarpana, Nala and Bheema,” he revealed.
Bheemasena Nalamaharaja revolves around the protagonist’s efforts to cure his wife who loses her memory in an accident, by whipping up her favourite dishes. Karthik pointed out that there is scientific backing to the hero’s effort.
“It is based on medical research. If you watch the trailer, it will bring back the memories of certain food from your childhood. We feel it is because of the emotional connection but it actually is because of your neuroglial connection. There is a specific part of the hypothalamus which stores all information and memory regarding food. It is medically proven. We wanted to tell a very emotional story in a very scientific way,” Karthik Saragur concluded.
Bheemasena Nalamaharaja stars Aravind Iyer, Aarohi Narayan, Priyanka Thimmesh and Achyuth Kumar. It will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video from October 29.