The movie, Teenage will finally see the light of day, with its release this week. Kishan Shrikanth, who created a buzz with his movie C/o Footpath, which won him accolades for his directorial ingenuity and fetched him a name in the Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘Youngest director of a professionally made feature length film’, at the age of 10, plays the lead character in the film being directed by his father, Shrikanth.
Teenage has already set records even before its release. Firstly, for a song with 15,122 children shooting in different parts of Karnataka, shot with eight cameras and secondly, for the underwater song, which is a first-of-its-kind in Indian cinema.
Ask the actor as to why it took so long for the release and Kishan says, “I think any teenage film needs to be made with care because there will be lot of sensitive issues to be addressed. Also, the underwater song sequence took us two months just to get prepared after which it took three months of post production work.”
He further adds, “Not much has changed in terms of teenage life except for love notes being sent through SMS and e-mails. So every one can relate to the film.”
According to Kishan, Teenage should be watched by both parents and their children. “Even today, in western countries, adolescent kids have an open discussion about crush and infatuation. This prevents them from going in the wrong direction because they keep their parents in the loop. But in our country, teenagers hesitate to open up with their parents. I am sure that this film will break the ice between parents and children,” he says.
According to Kishan, the movie is packed with songs as music plays an important role in any teen film.
“So is our movie, which is filled with colourful songs. Ravichandran’s film Prema Loka had eleven songs and after 20 years, Sandalwood will see a musical film with nine songs, which was indeed a tedious task. Every song is enjoyable,” he says.
And of course, Kishan enjoyed the company of the three leading ladies while shooting the film.
“The movie is filled with romance. The three girls—Tanvi Lonkar, who played Lathika’s character in Slumdog Millionaire; Apoorva Arora worked in Oh! My God; and Priya Bharath Khanna is from Australia have done justice to their characters. With everybody of the same age, there was no tension and we really bonded with each other during the shoot,” he says.