Two people meet serendipitously and a bus accident reveals the truth of the moment. The rest as they say is history. History or not, this story forms the crux of the movie Journey, the Telugu version of the Tamil movie Engeyum Epphodhum (Anywhere, anytime). Directed by Sarvanan and produced by Suresh Kondeti, the movie which was quite the hit in the Tamil industry, hopes to recreate and recapture the same in Tollywood.
In town to promote his latest venture, actor Sharvanand gives his two cents worth.
“The movie is a realistic take on everyday tragedies that are reduced to statistics in a newspaper. While on an average day we don’t stop to think why this happened, the director goes back to the beginning in an attempt to show what really happened.”
“As such if I were to tell you the story, there’s not much to it. Two people meet, they fall in love and then there’s a bus accident. However, the beauty of the movie lies in following those two characters through that time.”
Sharvanand who has had hits like Gamyam and Prasthanam to his credit so far, is quite thrilled with the movie Journey. “I have for a while been waiting for a commercial success and I believe its going to be Journey. Even if it isn’t though, I won’t be too disappointed because I really enjoyed making this movie.”
A role that landed in the actor’s lap due to another actor not being able to confirm his dates, Sharvanand feels it is a role that nicely mixes the reel hero with an everyday average guy.
“Director Sarvanan told us right from the start not to act. He was only interested in capturing our natural reaction to a/any situation. The entire shooting took place on live locations and real sets. We were among real people, at crowded bus stops, in the middle of the road.”
He went on to explain how the spot where the accident was filmed was actually a very accident prone area. “Somewhere on the road from Chennai to Trichy, this one area was so accident-prone that a hospital came up nearby to cater to the patients.”
Sharvanand makes for quite an interesting relatively new actor. While most would prefer a more character-centric movie, his movies thus far have been such that the director plays a more important role that the protagonist. For instance, even Journey is more about the how the director has linked the seemingly mundane bus accident to a love story where the climax doesn’t really depend on the actors but the fact of the accident. Commenting on this he says, “For me the director is the subject, and a movie is a director’s movie. As an actor, I only help tell the story. At this stage, stardom isn’t really what I’m looking for. But yes, a commercial success would be nice.”
The actor has a comedy film with Naresh and Shreya on the cards next.
Journey is set to be released on December 16.