"Rashmika is so luminous in this film. Which is why, when the light goes out of her eyes you really feel it,” said actor-director Rahul Ravindran at his masterclass that saw fans, film enthusiasts, aspiring filmmakers flock to listen to him talk about his latest film The Girlfriend at the 17th edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). The film stars Bengaluru’s own Rashmika Mandanna in the role of Bhooma, a sincere college girl whose relationship with a charming boy takes a toxic turn. Talking about what made Mandanna perfect for the role, the National Award-winning actor added, “Bhooma is somebody who, like so many women I’ve known, withdraws into silence with the burden they carry in toxic relationships like this, where their identity is constantly compressed.
I needed an actor who would be able to express that through the eyes without needing the crutch of dialogue. Rashmika has eyes that are a window into her soul, they always give her away.”
The film has been a long time in the making – eight years to be precise, although the writing was done in 12 days. Loosely inspired by his college experience of witnessing a friend’s inability to deal with a breakup healthily, he also noticed a trend in cinema that disturbed him. “I was seeing Devdas-like characters becoming ‘soup boys’. The difference being that while the former drinks excessively and destroys his own life after heartbreak, soup boys make the girl suffer too, and this was being presented as a righteous response,” he explained. Ravindran went on to comment, “I don’t mean to be too critical – I believe everyone should be able to tell their own stories. As long as there is heart to it, why not? But this was my counterpoint to that.” He added, “Since I have been working on the film for a while, I wondered if it would still be relevant. But audiences have been telling me that it’s more relevant now, which feels bittersweet.”
At the end, the moderator cheekily asked when Mandanna would be getting married, following buzz that she would be tying the knot with Vijay Deverakonda in the next few days. Ravindran remarked about his close friend cheekily, “Oh! She’s getting married? I didn’t know that!” inviting laughs from the audience.
Sunday special
Another discussion that drew crowds on Sunday was one by Malayalam director-screenwriter and cinematographer Mahesh Narayanan, whose star-studded film Patriot featuring Mohanlal, Mammootty, Revathi, Nayanthara, Prakash Belawadi and more, is set for an April release.
When asked about navigating a director-actor relationship with a cast like this, he answered, “I’m a person who loves to collaborate constantly with actors who are comfortable with me because with that kind of connection, we can understand the same language. ”
Veteran actor and chairman of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, Sadhu Kokila, in a quick chat with CE amidst his duties at the festival, pointed to the festival’s open-air screenings as a must-see for attendees, saying, “This year’s speciality is definitely the tent cinema [open-air screenings] where we are using 35mm film and projectors. In the old days, all films used to be projected from film, with no chairs – just a sheet. In the same vein, we are screening classic films of Kannada industry legends like Dr Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan and Shankar Nag. These films have been preserved by the academy and carefully selected to be played here.”