‘Making of allama was like doing 5 phds’

Writing the script for the film, about the mystic poet, took director TS Nagabharana almost three years.
Dhananjay and Meghana Raj
Dhananjay and Meghana Raj

TS Nagabharana’s incisiveness has often resulted in films with a distinctive appeal, which won him recognition and even commercial gain. For the director, who has delved into both commercial and parallel cinema, winning awards — be it international, national or state — has become a regular affair.

TS Nagabharana
TS Nagabharana

And his success comes from an earnestness, which drives him to look for even the smallest details of any subject that he deals with.
With his latest, Allama, which will hit the screens on Republic Day, it is no wonder that the director took almost three years only to  compile the script on the life of mystic -saint Allama Prabhu.

“I revisited the script 50 times before finalising,” says the director. “Allama Prabhu is part of literature and history and we could not take any chances and miss significant events in his life. Moreover, the film is not only about Allama, but also about one of the early lady poets, Akka Mahadevi, Hindu philosopher and poet, Basavanna and others. So narrowing down the broad subject, with every other character seeming quite relevant, was a Herculean task, but I was successful. Studying about Allama and other poets was like doing five PhDs.”

According to him, although each film is an experiment, the process gets tedious especially when tracing history of a long gone era. “A subject based on history cannot be presented only by research but also requires recreating the period. Fortunately, I had art director Sashidhar Adapa and costume designer Nagini Bharana to make it as authentic as possible. So, you will see Karnataka’s culture of yore at its best,” he says and adds that

Allama Prabhu’s literature influenced him deeply, enough to drive him to making the film.
“Apart from his literary masterpieces, Allama’s life itself was a interesting journey, which is another plus point for any filmmaker since there is scope to show a variety of emotions. More importantly, the mystic poet’s works are very much relevant even today,” he says.

The director has no qualms in accepting that,  from a commercial perspective, even history has to have fictional elements. “It is a challenge to capture audience’s attention for films based on history and it cannot be produced as is. If you take any film with a historical background, fiction has a major role to play and there are chances of a debate. But we cannot make a documentary,” he says.
Allama features Dhananjay and Meghana Raj in the lead roles

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The New Indian Express
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