Director Prashant Raj places good faith in the backdrop against which a story is told. After having experimented with an IT backdrop in Love Guru and a dance theme in Gaana Bajana, he has set his upcoming film Zoom in the advertising industry. To add to the appeal, the movie has a new pairing of Ganesh and Radhika Pandit.
“I compare the backdrop of a film to the foundation of a house. Once it is decided upon, there’s more clarity in the making of the film. Also, I come from an advertising background, so I could easily stylise the personalities of Ganesh and Radhika,” says the director.
Zoom is a love story with a fresh style of narration, he says. “The way love is depicted on screen has evolved over the years. Gone are the days when letters were sent to confess romantic feelings. Today, love happens on WhatsApp or Facebook and selfies communicate the matters of the heart,” he says.
Prashanth is also known to make his movies fun and colourful.
“I don’t like grey and completely avoid negativity on screen. I want people to feel good after watching my films. Even in films with negative shades — like my new venture, Dalapathy — I have tried to show what’s good in the bad side,” says Prashanth.
“While hunting for locations abroad, for shooting a few sequences and songs for Zoom, I went around Europe looking for natural colours and locations,” he says.
Prashant chose Zoom as the title because it sounds universal. “I have always wanted people of different parts of the world to watch my film. And Zoom is a word that is used to mean ‘innocent’ among youngsters... like when they say, ‘Eno maga, thumba zoom alli idiya’,” he says with a chuckle.
Speaking about bringing Ganesh and Radhika together for the first time, the director says the actress has been part of his two previous films and was eager to work in another. Ganesh too thoroughly enjoyed the script, he shares.
“The script required actors with a good sense of humour and natural acting. That’s why I chose Ganesh and Radhika,” he says.
He lets on that Ganesh’s act of telling lies in the movie will be something new for the audience.
The film also features Kashinath, Sadhu Kokila, Kavya Shetty among others. Zoom has music by S S Thaman and cinematography by Santhosh Rai Pathaje.