Revisiting Taj Mahal
M.L. NARASIMHAM
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Sivaji turns producer with ‘Taj Mahal’, remake of a Kannada hit.
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Feel-good entertainer Sivaji in a still from the film.
One more techie makes his way to tinsel town. Arun Singaraju joins the likes of Sekhar Kammula and Radhakrishna (Krish) as he wields the megaphone for Sri Sivaji Productions’ maiden venture, Taj Mahal, remade from the Kannada superhit with the same title. Besides playing the lead role, hero Sivaji debuts as the producer.
Arun was shooting a crucial scene with his lead actors Sivaji and Sruthi at the Ramanaidu Studios, Film Nagar. The location was on top of the colour lab with veteran cinematographer V. Srinivasa Reddy taking close up shots of the lead pair engaged in intriguing conversation. Going by Sruthi’s gestures and expressions, it looked like an emotional scene. After a couple of takes, Arun gives a satisfied nod. The camera stops. The next part of the scene is to be shot at a different location in the precincts. The unit makes the necessary arrangements. The director informs us that it is Sruthi’s first film too.
Sivaji plays a final year engineering student. Sruthi studies in the same college. For the past four years he is in love with her. “She is unaware of this. She does not even know that such a student exists in the college,” says Arun. This scene brings them face to face just before the interval.
“The heroine is the daughter of a rich man. Sivaji comes from a sophisticated background. He shares his thoughts with the hostel’s head cook (played by Raghubabu). The comedy is situational,” the director adds.
Arun worked as a techie in U.S. after completing his masters in Electronics in Indiana University. Fascinated by films from an early age, he then enrolled in the Film School at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, for a two year course.
It was during the making of Indumathi by his friend Harsha Reddy that he met Sivaji. The two went on to become friends and when Sivaji turned producer, he asked Arun to direct the film. “I did not think I would start my career with a remake. But Sivaji liked the Kannada film and asked me to see it; I fell in love with its story and music. We need strong stories to make quality films. After all it is the story that makes a film. We made some changes for the Telugu version to make it more logical.”
The original version was a big musical hit. Abhimann Rai, who composed for the original, will be doing the honours in Telugu as well and the songs were filmed in Bangkok, Vizag and in Hyderabad. “We have a tagline caption — Behind every love…is a great story” Arun tells us before moving to the shooting zone to direct the next scene.
Kota Srinivasa Rao, Nasser, Brahmanandam, Vijay Sai, M.S. Narayana, Venumadhav, Pragathi and Kalpana are also part of the cast.
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