A journey through love
M.L. NARASIMHAM
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The film is Sarathchandra Chatterjee's `Devdas' in a new avatar.
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In our literature, Devdas is synonymous with pure love. That's the inspiration behind the title. Y.V.S. Chowdary
LOVE STORYRam and Ileana in `Devdas'.
Passionately in love with cinema, Y.V.S. Chowdary is a man of dedication and devotion. On the sets of Bommarillu Vaari's, Devdas, at the Ramanaidu Studios, Nanakramguda, we saw him shooting a crucial scene. Besides writing the story, he is producing the film with a borrowed title from Sarathchandra Chatterjee's popular novel. Newcomers Ram and Ileana were selected to play the lead roles after a thorough search. Art director Ananda Sai has refurbished the interiors in the palatial house set according to the descriptions in Chowdary's script making it look more elegant. The lead pair and some of the major actors associated with the film are ready to face the camera.
On one side make up assistants are giving final touches to the lead actors and on the other, the camera assistants are monitoring the light. Amidst all the buzz Chowdary welcomed us with a warm smile and shared his thoughts.
"In our literature, Devdas is synonymous with pure love. That's the inspiration behind the title. And we are trying to deal with that pure love from another dimension based on the emotional upsurges and subsequent behavioural patterns of present day youth," says the bearded filmmaker with a record of five commercial grossers in his kitty. Like some of the recent films, this one too has a tag attached to its title, Premalo Munigi Thelaadu. "It conveys the fulcrum of the story - `don't fall in love but rise in love,'" says the young director.
He wouldn't divulge further details about the relationships of the lead characters or what he is shooting at the palatial house and whom the house belongs to in the film. "If I give you details about what I am shooting now, I will be revealing the theme. Not at this moment," he stops for a while, oversees the arrangements for the shot to be taken and continues his brief, "We have done a large part of the shoot at Hyderabad besides filming a song at Rajahmundry and a two-day workout in Chennai. As per the story, we did some shooting in the U.S. and in Thailand. In the U.S. we travelled the length and breadth of the East and West coast and shot in New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Virginia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Monument Valley, Zion Valley, Valley of Fire and Mojave. For 40 days we shot in these scenic locations. The story also demands a shoot at an isolated island. Since it is difficult to find one in these busy tourist spots and thickly inhibited places in U.S., to match the scenes we went to the Phuket Islands in Thailand where we could get some authentic locations. We also shot a couple of scenes in Bangkok. Of course, the foreign shooting is done within the FDC's permissible norms." He has to complete one song for which he had created the sets at Annapurna studios floor No.2.
It's almost time for a break. The unit briskly makes arrangements to can the next frame in the scene as the camera assistants complete monitoring the light through the meter.
Two cameramen shoot for the film - Madhu A. Naidu and Bharani K. Dharan.
"Chakri's music finds a new beat, a melody that comes as a fresh breeze, in the nine songs and two numbers written by Chandra Bose. The USP of the film is its music, fresh love story that appeals to youth, class and mass audiences," concludes the director as he goes towards the actors to give through them his best in his sixth venture.
Shayaji Shinde, M.S. Narayana, Venumadhav, Ramaprabha and Vidya don major roles. Presented by Y. Geetha, Devdas will have its release in October.
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