Filmmaker Hemanth M Rao.
Credit: PTI Photo
The devil, as they say, is in the details. Clearly, for Kannada film director Hemant M Rao, little details are what make an ordinary film into an epic.
"I have to create a world for the audience to get lost in. So, details become important. For instance, when it comes to helmets, even the choice of helmet matters,"' says Rao.
Even with no proper film background, Mysore-born Rao jumped on to the Kannada film industry's nascent 'new wave' scene when he debuted with 'Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu' in 2016. Post 1990, Kannada cinema often relied on remakes, but the scene changed with the 2013 crowd-funded film, 'Lucia'.
By going the neo-noir route for his second film 'Kavaludaari' (2019), Rao cemented his place among the handful of young directors, who have started forging a new path for Kannada cinema.
Now with his latest film, 'Sapta Sagaradaache Ello' (Side A), Rao has yet again gone on the less trodden path. Romantically, Kannada cinema hasn't seen a compelling film since 'Pallavi Anu Pallavi' (1983), which, incidentally, is Mani Ratnam's debut film.
"I wanted to do a love story that pays attention to the visual poetry aspect of the filmmaking," says Rao.
Genre may have changed, but true to his style, Rao fills his frames with details. And with the flourish of an auteur, he connects them to get that 'visual poetry' going.
For instance, it is not by chance that Manu (played by Rakshit Shetty) is weaving a cloth in blue when fate pushes him to make a decision, changing the course of his life. Blue is Priya's (played by Rukmani Vasanth) favourite colour. It is what anchors the film, heightening the pathos that the string instruments and the sound of the waves evoke in the background.
Rao is aware of the pitfall of over intellectualisation that a 'studied approach' can slip into. But he says he tries to look at his work from an audience point of view to prevent that slide.
"There is a certain collective consciousness, you know, a sort of understanding of an audience through my own experiences over the years. Whatever I am doing, I cross check with that," says Rao.
The director's characters dwell a lot on what is morally right or wrong. But taking a moral stand was never his intention, insists Rao. 'I don't like sitting on a pedestal and saying this is what love is or this is what sense of duty is. I am only trying to stay true to the characters within the framework of that world,' says Rao.
For instance, Rao says when the camera stays focussed on his 'Kavaludaari' lead character Rishi, a traffic cop, as he dons his helmet, it is not an attempt to put out a message to the world, but visually a strong social message about wearing helmets gets conveyed.
"My thinking was more like how do we stay rooted to this character. His bike, helmet… these choices that were made were never from a perspective of giving a message," adds Rao.
But Rao agrees that the bigger the stick, the more responsible one has to be with it.
"Everybody walks away from a film taking something out of it. A lot of people who watched ‘Godhi’ said they mended their relationship with their father after watching the film. But it is also very limiting. You cannot take it too seriously also, because then you will feel like you are the spokesperson for the society. That is not what cinema is. It is about creating a dialogue, about creating an experience," says Rao.
Of late, excess violence in films has come under scrutiny. For Rao, if violence is being used for a strong purpose in the story, he believes it will resonate with people.
Although billed as an “intense love story”, ‘Side A’ turns its gaze to the murky world of the prison. Violence is hinted at every frame, but is kept on a tight leash.
“It's part of the society, so it is going to find its way into cinema. It’s like a snake eating its own tail. You know, there is violence in society. Filmmakers will try to depict it. And that will glorify it,” says Rao.
'Side B', slated to be released on October 20, will continue Manu’s journey once he is released from jail 10 years later.
Perhaps this revenge saga is what Rao hinted at when he said, “Human mind is violent in nature. Society is broken in many places. You will find reasons for violence in those cracks.”
Or ‘Side B’ is really about redemption. Despite the turn of events that unfolded before the climax, which changes Manu as a person, Priya is still a wild card. In ‘Side A’, Rao blacked out some of her crucial decisions – we see her in the brink of making them, but we do not know for sure what she chooses to do. For all we know, we were only in Manu’s head.
All Rao is willing to admit for now is that “it’s like two sides of the same story”. How it plays out is anybody’s guess, he adds.