BANGALORE: Debutant director N Prashanth Kumar’s 3D film Akramana is all set to release this week. While many directors in Sandalwood are experimenting with various concepts of filmmaking and script writing and succeeding too (Lucia, 6-5=2, Jatta, A), Prashanth has decided to tread the path less taken and start his career with a 3D flick.
According to Prashanth, the thought crept in when he was working as an assistant director for the 3D film Katari Veera Sura Sundarangi. “I want to be a 3D movie specialist. There are around 20 3D directors in the world and this is my first step to join the bandwagon,” he says.
Though news about Akramana’s release has been doing the rounds, the announcement came all of a sudden. The film will be released this week and that leaves the director and the team very little time to promote it. “The buzz around Akramana was always there because it is a 3D film. Enough publicity has been done through word of mouth. We are confident about the product and want to spend economically. It is not easy to get theatres, so when the opportunity arises, we need to grab it. As of now, we plan to release the film in 60 theatres in 2D and 3D,” says Prashanth, who is also the producer of the film. “We spent more than `3 crore to make this horror film,” he adds.
But according to Prashanth, Akramana will not be a typical horror film. “The film will not see too much of bloodshed nor will there be excess noise or screaming. It will be like a gentle drizzle with thunders, along with a beautiful love story,” says the director. The film has Raghu Mukherjee portraying the role of a cop, along with B-town actress Daisy Shah, Shilpi Sharma, Makrand Deshpande and Marco, a foreigner, who is playing the second lead in the film. Prashanth shares, “Daisy became a plus point for the film because the dubbing rights in Hindi went for `25 lakh because of her. Raghu’s acting will definitely be noted in the film. His is a very mature character and for the first time, he is seen with a moustache,” says Prashanth.
The director admits that the release took longer than expected because he had problems with technicians from other states. “My film was ready in 2D a year ago but 3D took more time. I was learning the technology. I depended on technicians from Kerala, Chennai and Hyderabad for the technical work. They started dominating us and even tried to create friction within the team. Despite the bitterness, I learnt a lot from them. Today, I am confident about making a 3D film on my own. The effect we worked on for a year can now be achieved in three months,” he explains.
Prashanth is anxious about the release. “I watched the film 10 times and I was not satisfied. There were frame jumps which I had to correct. I shouldn’t become a laughing stock. However, nobody is 100 per cent perfect and I am open to suggestions from the audience,” says the debutant, who will soon be working on two more 3D projects. “I will be doing a bilingual and a trilingual film. I will be working with producer Naganna, who made Kranti Veera Sangolli Rayyanna, and then another film under a big production house. They have planned a big budget film. This time, though, I will be working only as a director and will have time to concentrate on my work,” he signs off.