Rajashree Balaram, who was a feature writer with a magazine in Mumbai until recently, makes her debut as a screenplay writer with V K Prakash’s upcoming movie Rockstar. The movie also marks the acting debut of singer Siddharth Menon of Thaikkudam Bridge. City Express caught up with Rajashree to talk about the movie, the writing process and the lead cast.
How did Rockstar happen?
I had an idea for a short story and shared it with my friend Eva Pavithran, who later played the female lead in Rockstar. Eva said the story was the stuff for a movie, which I initially laughed off. But, later I felt the idea was not bad and wrote a synopsis. I approached V K Prakash with the story, who liked it and asked me to write a screenplay.
What is the movie about?
It the story of a musician in Bangalore with familial roots in Kottayam. As person who grew up in a city, he has a Western outlook to life and leads a hip-hop lifestyle. He is also deeply connected to his family, whose values are at times incongruous with his own. But even when he considers himself to have crossed over into a Western way of life, there are things that simply refuses to go away. The movie is essentially about this internal conflict between the values one grows up with and those one acquires over time. But, it wont be as prosaic as it sounds and is told in the form of a romcom. We focus on the relationship he shares with a woman. It will be a story of our times, where women are becoming more independent and men are trying to get their heads around the fact.
Has it got anything to do with Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar?
No. Absolutely nothing. We titled the movie ‘On the Rocks’ initially, but changed it due to its overt connotation to alcohol. We didn’t want to send a wrong signal. So we settled on Rockstar, as the movie is about a musician.
How was screenplay writing different from the writing you have done earlier?
It was different in a lot of ways and I had to unlearn quite a bit. As a feature writer, you are text-driven and is prone to writing long paragraphs. VKP kept telling me that he was not after a novel. He guided me into looking at things more visually, concentrating on gestures and actions. I had to go through eight rewrites before I was happy. I also collaborated with Vivek Renjith (scriptwriter for Kili Poyi), who had helped me in translating the script from English to Malayalam. He contributed characters and the much needed twists.
Did you have Siddharth Menon and Eva Pavithran in mind while writing the screenplay?
No. VKP suggested Siddharth would be a good choice to play the lead - he was a fresh face and was famous. And he being a musician meant he could get into the skin of the character faster. As for Eva, she was a close friend and had been in media industry for a while. She had accompanied me when I met VKP in Mumbai and when he asked would she be interested in playing the lead, she replied “I’d love to”.
Rockstar will be released on Friday, December 3.
