Murder she wrote
M. L. NARASIMHAM
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Mumaith Khan stars in a whodunit in Ramesh Raja’s ‘Target’.
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Interesting, entertaining Viswajith Pradhan and Mumaith Khan in ‘Target’.
Imagine standing in the middle of hundreds of hot air balloons flying at a low height. What if one bursts, leading to a chain reaction the hydrogen gas filled balloons start? This thought swept our minds as we watched Mumaith Khan, Nadia-like, waiting for the shoot to start amid the huge balloons spread for 360 degrees of the actual shoot zone. Soon, she has company. Viswajith Pradhan (remember Gadar?) joins her. We wait for a moment to see what exactly happens. Now that Mumaith has graduated to heroine roles, will she be romancing on a duet song or now that she has also donned the mantle of an action queen, will she be taking on Pradhan?
We look at writer-director Ramesh Raja. The actors and cinematographer V.N. Suresh Kumar pay attention to him as he tells them what he expects from them. Ace fights choreographer Vijay emerges from behind the balloons after checking the safety parameters along with his assistants and the technical crew. That solves the mystery. It is a fight sequence being shot for Siri Sai Surya Movies’ Target, produced by Dasarath Sangisetti and B. Ramakrishna with Gandham Srinivas as the executive producer.
The location is the famous hot air balloon factory in Nanakramguda. It is a top angle shot. Since a lot of computer graphics are to be placed in the action block, some of the work is done on blue matt. The CG effects are done by the Chennai-based Digital Magic. The director is all praise for Arul Moorthy for the magical graphic work.
Viswajith Pradhan is making his Telugu debut after acting in nearly 50 Hindi films, informs the director, while watching him perform. Mumaith seems to be a bundle of energy as she fights with Pradhan, not displaying a wee bit of tiredness. Siva Balaji, the protagonist of the film, who plays a CBI officer, is not required for the day’s shoot. Shradha Das, playing his love interest, is the other heroine.
Vijay demonstrates how to deliver a punch on the villain to the heroine. Ramesh Raja notes the quizzical expressionon our faces, what led her to fight this man. “It is a murder mystery. The hero, who is entrusted with the job of nabbing the culprit, suspects Mumaith, a novelist. In one of her novels, she had described how a murder took place.
Actually, the murder in the film takes place in exactly the same fashion as written by her in her novel. This naturally points the finger of suspicion at her. He chases her to find the truth and she chases the goon to ferret out the truth. But, in between, there is lot of interesting and entertaining drama.” Raja leaves that part to retain the suspense element. He plans to complete the action block in 10 days. “On the big screen, watching with CG effects, the scene will leave a mesmerising effect,” he says with pride.
During the break, the director reels out some interesting features. He has shot a song (music is by Koti) on Siva Balaji and Shradha Das as a single shot at the Flex House in RFC. Swarna choreographed it. Of course, the actors had a four-day rehearsal before going to the sets. Again, he had shot a song on Mumaith Khan in 450 shots, a record. “For the first to create the mood and for the introductory song on Mumaith to create the impact, we have filmed them so. The fact that both have set records in Telugu cinema brings in a feeling of joy, too.”
The camera position is changed and the shoot recommences. The colourful balloons are flying high and the director is confident that their effort will triumph with flying colours too.
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