Film Last Bus, releasing soon, boasts scenic locales across the state, with a purple-blue wild flower that blossoms once in 12 years forming the backdrop in some scenes. SD Arvinda, the director of the psychological thriller currently at a studio in Kochi, giving finishing touches to the film, speaks to City Express on the other visual treats in store for the viewers, and scouting for them.
Blue Mountain Backdrop
Most of the shooting has been done in Devaramane, Chikmagalur district, the mid-point between Shiradi and Charmadi Ghat.
“Just our luck that when we shot, Neelakurinji, (Haarlu flowers) which translates to blue mountains, had just bloomed. This purplish-blue flower, found in the Western Ghats, blossoms once in 12 years. It became our backdrop," Arvinda says.
Haunted House
After searching for houses from Goa and Dandeli to Calicut, the team found a perfect location in the state’s first CM, K C Reddy’s ancestral property in Kyasamballi. The recce took the team to 50 houses and also to Dharwad, Somwarpet and Madikeri. A portion of the 150-year-old property, said to have hosted Nehru and Indira Gandhi in the summer, was converted to a haunted house. “We shot here for 25 days,” he says.
The Scenic Climax
A few bits were also shot in Byrapura, in the breathtakingly picturesque Malnad region. But the climax, by far, was the most challenging bit. “We chose
Attigundi Falls, in Chikmagalur, as the location, and were almost in the water.”
Visual effects
After using natural surroundings to shoot in, the team used graphics for effect. “We generated around 100 bats and fireflies at the haunted house, and a 100-year-old-looking tree. My brother Avinash Diwakar, the film’s protagonist and also an art director,
took charge of this.” Ten minutes of graphics, by brothers Amarnath D and Shravan Kumar of RNA MediaWorks, took six months. “We didn’t want it look like it was pasted onto the scene, but as if it were part of the shoot,” he says. “The film is content-oriented. And we have given attention to the last detail.”
Camera and Music
Last bus has been shot by cameraperson Anant Urs, and edited by Sri of CrazyMindz.”We have symphony music as our background score, by Stephen Prayog, who has worked with Mano Moorthy and in Mungaru Male,” he says. “This lends it a universal feel.”
Last Bus also features
Samarth Narasimharaju, Manasa Joshi, Deepa Gowda, Meghashree Bhagavatar and Shankar Shetty. “Prakash Belawadi is one of the lead actors, and will bring in the twist in the film,” the director says.