BENGALURU: One of the most successful sleeper Kannada hit from late last year and going strong this year has been the movie Rama Rama Re. Helmed by first time director D Satyaprakash, it is a road movie and tells the story of a convict who escapes prison in order to escape his death sentence and meets a number of characters during the course of his journey.
The movie was screened at the BIFFES, 2017 on Friday and generated a positive buzz with a number of film buffs coming to the fest to particularly catch this movie. The movie had already created a strong buzz and speaking with the City Express, Satyaprakash says that he hopes the exposure though BIFFES will take the movie to more people.
“If you ask a bus conductor about the movie, he will not know about it. It is mostly people who have particular interest in films who have seen and enjoyed the movie and kept coming back. My wish is for it to be seen by one and all,” he says.
Released on October 2016 to a limited audience in selected theatres and multiplexes in Bengaluru Mysuru and Tumkauru, Satyaprakash says that there was not much publicity and hype due to the lack of finances. “No producer was ready to invest because of the movie’s highly experimental nature. People who made the movie, technicians, actors chipped in with varying amounts,” he says.
The movie was shot in various locations in Vijayapura and Kolapur at a budget of `70 lakh. “I think the audience connected with the human values and the different characters in the movie,” he adds.
The movie recovered the cost in its three weeks since its release and earned much more and even more earning around `1 crore. “Through the BIFFES festival, non Kannadigas and the general masses can know more about the movie,” he says. It ran for a total of around 100 days in and was praised by audiences and critics alike.
IMDB, the movie rating website, has given it a 9 out of 10 rating. Word about the movie has already travelled to other states and remakes have already been planned in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. “We are also planning to dub it in Hindi for a release in north India as well. BIFFES is the first festival where the movie is being screened and we are planning on sending it to international festivals as well,” adds Satyaprakash.
Audience Speak
Rathish Veetil, a filmmaker, got to know about the movie through social networks and particularly liked the locations where the movie was shot in. “The makers must have done a lot of research and it show. The locations are very beautiful. Over all it brilliant,“ he says.