A week ahead of the release of director Prashant Raj and actor Ganesh's Orange, the duo is busy with last-minute promotional work for the film. Not wanting to make the same mistakes they made with Zoom, the actor-director have sketched out what worked and what didn't in their previous film. When we started work on this film, Ganesh and I listed out what worked and what didn't. We don't want to make the same mistakes again," says Prashant, who assures that Orange will be a family entertainer, something that Zoom didn't cater to. "We felt that children were not able connect with our previous film, which we've kept in mind while working on Orange."
While Santhosh played by Ganesh and Radha's role is essayed by Priya Anand. Without revealing the plot, Prashant hints that Ganesh plays a thief, while Sadhu Kokila plays the wrestler's character 'UnderTaker'.
It's well known that Prashant doesn't like giving negative shades to characters in films. "I don't like violence, because I believe that life is beautiful and everyone needs to enjoy it - on or off screen. Even though there is a villain in my film, he has been portrayed in an entertaining manner, without any face-offs," he says.
However, what is the idea behind the title?"The fruit plays a major role in the film. In fact, two people meet because of an orange. It's a romcom, a cute love story. Personally, I love watching films such as Maine Pyaar Kiya and Dilwale Dulhaniya Ley Jayenge," the director tells us.
With this being Prashant and cinematographer Santhosh Rai Pathaje's fifth project together, the director is glad to have joined hands with music director S Thaman once again. "In Zoom, I had penned one song - Rajadhi Raja, sung by Puneeth Rajkumar, which was a super hit. This film has two songs penned by me and the other two tracks have been written by Kaviraj," he says.
Prashant's previous release Dalapathi didn't meet expectations, but with Orange the stakes are high. "Dalapathi was not my story and I can excuse myself that it didn't work. In the case of Orange, it is my story, my screenplay and my kind of film," he says.
Today, film shoots and promotions run in parallel In addition to helming films, Prashant says that it is equally important to take up the responsibility of promoting films. "It begins with the title launch, followed by teasers, trailers and creating a pre-release buzz," says Prashant, who adds that reaching out to the audience is just as challenging as the making of a film. "The title often becomes a point of
discussion, and set the standard as to what is expected from a film."
"Today, a film's promotional work has to go on in parallel with its making. Planning is key here. But at the end of it, we are always left with a feeling that we have missed out something," he says.