People are curious about period dramas, especially about famous people. Our film is about Kabir Das, the mystic poet and saint," he told City Express.
The film portrays a series of incidents between 1440 and 1478, throwing light on the business, dharma and politics of the era. The problems persist even today, and hence the relevance, the director explained.
Indrababu is from a theatre background. "The film is influenced by Bhisham Sahni’s play Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein," he said.
The producers took pains to recreate Kashi in Karnataka. "That is where 70 per cent of the film is shot. We used the KRS backwaters," he said. The unit had 40 carpenters and 50 labourers, who took four months to recreate Kashi.
Shivarajkumar was supportive throughout the process, he said.
"Doing Kabira was an idea initiated by Shivarajkumar and he told me to helm the project. He is well-versed with Kabir poems. As a child, he had learnt bhajans from music director Upendra Kumar. He has put his soul into the character," Indrababu said.
The film features Sanusha in the female lead, and stars Anant Nag, Sharath Kumar, Sharath Lohitashwa, Aksahta Rao, besides 3,000 junior artistes.
Naveen Kumar makes his debut as cinematographer and Prabhu Raghavendra is the art director. As technicians, this is their first project. Gopala Vajpayee of Nagamandala fame has written the dialogues and songs.
The team is confident Santheyalli Nintha Kabira will work as a commercial film. "It cannot be bracketed as art or parallel cinema. Kabir's poetry makes you think," the director said.
Kumaraswamy Patthikonda, producer, said: "This is a biopic-drama. I found it interesting when Gopal Vajpayee narrated it to me, and decided to invest in the project."
Many in the south know about Kabir couplets but not much about the poet. Kabir had even influenced Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom struggle, he said.