Rahul Ravindran is not new to Tamil cinema. He made his debut as an actor in Tamil in Moscowin Cauvery and was seen in Vinmeengal and Vanakkam Chennai. He is an established name in Telugu cinema and has made his directorial debut in Telugu with Chi La Sow which has been the talk of the town. Here in an extensive conversation with Jyothsna Bhavanishankar,where Rahul talks about the film, his influences and many more things.
I definitely knew one section of the audience would like the film but never expected that they would love it so much, would get so emotional about it, come back and blog two pages about it. They were analyzing the film, had fallen in love with Arjun and Anjali and said that Anjali is one of the best written characters in Telugu cinema. Some people even said that Anjali reminded them of characters written by K Vishwanath garu or K Balachander garu. These are things I definitely did not expect. These have been overwhelming. I have people come and tell me it felt like their own story. People have taken the film to their heart and have made it their responsibility to promote it. Some said that their parents have not seen a film in ages but they want them to see this film because they know they will like it. All these things I did not expect. I had a story which I narrated honestly. I am very overwhelmed.
I have always wanted to be a director, a story teller but not an actor; acting happened by accident. My earliest memory of falling in love with cinema, consciously knowing that I am falling in love with this medium was probably around my 8th or 9th standard when I watched Nayagan on TV. It was almost 10 years after the release of the film and I watched it for the first time. It simply blew my mind. Subconsciously I felt it was very different from the films that were made during that period. The craft, the acting, the filmmaking style and everything about the film was new. That was my earliest memory.
My mom is an excellent story teller and right from when I was young, I remember her telling me Ramayana and Mahabharata with such eloquence and perhaps the seeds were sown in there. My mom tells me that when I was three and a half years old, when we were in Kolkata, there was a story telling competition in Tamil Sangam for kids. There were around 350 people in the audience and I went upon the stage with absolutely no fear. I was apparently so excited to tell a story, and won the first prize too. I don't have a vivid memory of it though but my mom keeps telling. My grandfather also used to tell me smaller stories associated with Ramayana and Mahabharata which you don't find in Amar Chitra Katha comics. I think the seeds were sown then.
The idea of Chi La Sow was conceived ten years ago. One of my childhood best friends had an arranged marriage. He came to me one day and said that he was ready to get married as he did not have a girlfriend and that he had not met anybody interesting. He felt bored of life and wanted to get married. There is a dialogue in the film where Arjun tells his friend that getting married because you are bored is one of the worst reasons to enter matrimony. I also told my friend the same thing. He had a few 'Pelli Choopulu' (Ponnu Paakkum)' incidents and he was trying to choose his life partner from half an hour when he indulged in conversation with the girls. He told me, ten years down the line, it is only the conversations that are going to be important as rest of the things will go out of the window. He was looking if he could hold a conversation with the girl and decide. I could not believe it. But this kind of set my thoughts. What if he had had 24 hours instead of 30 minutes to decide about his life partner? How do people decide who is right for their life? I started wondering if it was an emotional decision or a practical decision. I had seen cases of successful arranged marriages and also failed love marriages. I could not make sense of it. That's where my story started developing. What if two people had 24 hours to make a decision; what would they go through in that time to make an informed decision? Would it have to be an informed decision? The story was born there.
When you are dating or courting someone, there is a facade; you are on your best behavior as you want to impress the other person. Someday that facade or the mask is bound to drop when you are comfortable enough in the relation to be yourself. At that time, the relationship either becomes deeper and the bond becomes beautiful or there could be dissonance when you start wondering who this person is as this is not the one you fell in love with.
In Chi La Sow, earlier on, the boy says no, the girl says no and there is no mask there. There is no pressure on either of them to be on their best. I wanted to explore situations where they will be themselves and reveal their true nature and fall in love. I don't know if they fall in love because they never say 'I love you'. But they make a decision that feels like the right one in the course of the night.
Also while I was exploring the theme, the characters were born. Arjun was modelled after all that I was when I was 27 years old and all that I went through; the parental pressures and the peer pressure. I had the maturity but somewhere I was still a man child. I had my sports, comics and films. It is the world I did not want to disturb. I did not see the need for a woman there. I had a break-up when I was 25 years old. It was a serious relationship. Perhaps it was 'once bitten, twice shy' which is why I took a long time to commit myself. Same way, Arjun also thinks he cannot commit but it comes naturally to him, when he meets the right girl.
Anjali is just the opposite. Arjun is 27 years old but mentally and emotionally he is 17 years. Over the course of one night, because of Anjali's impact, he learns to become a man from a man child in terms of emotional maturity. Anjali, on the other hand, from the age of 13, has been forced to have an emotional maturity and the strength of a 50 year old. She learns to become a 23 year old in the course of the night. That's the essence of the film. There is a dialogue in the hospital when Arjun and Anjali are arguing near the window. Arjun says, "Learn to live Anjali, you have just got one life" and in response, she says, "Learn to take a few things serious as you only have one life". He learns that he can't be casual always and she learns to breathe a little.
I initially wrote the story for a short film. The film ended at the balcony when Anjali leaves Arjun's flat and the latter opens the door rushing to get her. The camera freezes at the door and the film ends. But my friends felt it is not right and they wanted to know what happened to the characters. Later on I developed the story for a full length feature film. But at that point in time, I felt I was not ready for direction and wanted to learn more. Meanwhile, I had signed a few films as actor as I was using acting as platform to launch my directorial career. It was also advantageous that I was an established hero in Telugu cinema as it helps open doors; heroes will give you appointments and so will producers. By the time I decided to take the plunge, it was a lot easier for me. The first time I pitched the script to someone, it was four and a half years back when the new wave in Telugu cinema had not begun. I narrated the story to a hero who really liked the script. But he said that he can't do the film as he has a certain market. He said even if he convinced the producers to sell the film at a lower rate, they are not going to listen. They would only want to sell the film at his usual rate and if distributors didn't make the money, he would be in trouble. He made a lot of sense and was very encouraging. By then, I had signed few more films as actor and by the time when I was ready again, a bunch of new wave films had come in and they were doing well at the box office. This kind of set in a precedence that new age cinema can bring in money. It also earns good respect from the audience. In that sense, it was easier. Bharath and Jashwanth of Siruni Cine Corporation were the original producers of the film before Annapoorna got on board. Bharath and Jashwanth in a single sitting okayed the script. I gave Jashwanth a narration in Hyderabad. Bharath is US based and therefore I narrated to him through Skype, probably befitting of a new age script.
In wedding invitations, there is a prefix added to the boy's name Chiranjeevi. For example, when Rahul is marrying Chinmayee, the invitation will read as Chiranjeevi Rahul weds Chiranjeevi Lakshmi Sowbhagyavathi Chinmayee. It will be written as Chi La Sow Chinmayee. Originally we had named the film as Chiranjeevi Arjun. But that was the time Arjun Reddy had released and the film became iconic. We felt that in case we were using Arjun in the title, we would look like wannabes trying to cash in on the other film's popularity. So we did away with Chiranjeevi Arjun. It was Vennela Kishore who suggested the title Chi La Sow. My team also liked it and we went for it.
Sushanth and I had met before. In one of our discussions, he was talking about the scripts that he wanted to try. I felt that Sushanth would be apt for my Arjun, as he looks like a 27 year old man with boyish charm. He has that innocence in his eyes. He would look convincing as someone as 27 physically but 17 mentally and emotionally. He loved the script when I pitched to him. But my friends and well-wishers in the industry did not take well to the idea of Sushanth as Arjun. They felt that people are used to seeing him dance and fight and will not accept him in a film like this. But I somehow felt I can make him my Arjun. Another factor was that he had not signed any film then and therefore his dates were available. I am glad now that everyone loves Sushanth's performance and feels that he is being reinvented.
When it came to Anjali, I was hunting quite a bit for her. I was very clear that I wanted a Telugu speaking girl. In a film which is largely conversational, I did not want my heroine using prompters which brings in artificiality. I wanted a fresh face too. I had auditioned many Hyderabadi girls who mostly belonged to upper-middle class and had been raised to be in cocoon. They did not have the life experiences of Anjali. It is easy for a mature person to play immature but not the other way round. The shoot time was nearing and my team felt that I should look for Anjali in other parts of the country too.
It was Sushanth and my producer who saw Ruhani in her Instagram page. They liked her pictures which were a mix of girl-next-door and ultra-modern. They carefully chose the former types and sent it to me. What struck me in Ruhani's pictures was a kind of melancholy in her eyes even in happy photos. I called her for the audition and she came to Hyderabad.
When she came in, she was in a torn jean, tank top, huge earring with smoky eyes. I was like, who is this girl. This is not Anjali! That said, since she had come all the way, I wanted her to audition. I first gave her the character description of Anjali. As I was explaining, I saw a sea change in Ruhani's body language, perceiving and absorbing Anjali. At the end of it, she got up and said, "I was not born a Bombay model. I was born in a small town Solan and belong to a very normal family. I had to really fight to live my dreams and struggle to get where I am. I understand Anjali very well". She auditioned and did an amazing job. But I told her that she needs to learn the language. She called later and said that she could not get Anjali out of her head and that she is going to work hard to get her lines. We sent her the bound script and the girl really really worked so hard. I am glad we found Ruhani. She brought alive Anjali so beautifully, so intuitively.
It is interesting that you mentioned. When we released the teaser first, there were a few positive comments about Ruhani. There were also largely negative and rude responses. But I had full faith and conviction that when people see the film, they will be taken in by who Anjali is. They would find her beautiful for the person she is. Ruhani also did a fantastic job and the girl really worked hard.
Once we had taken in on a non-Telugu speaking girl, we had made up our mind to take the best voice artist who also happens to be my wife Chinmayee. In Tamil Nadu, Chinmayee is known for her singing but in Telugu she is extremely popular for her dubbing. She has been the voice of Samantha and has dubbed for almost all the top heroines. I also know the level of talent she has as a voice artist. She has been phenomenal to project an emotion through her voice. While singing too, she brings in such versatility among the sub-genres. She can internalize someone's emotions on screen and project that feel through her voice. As you had mentioned, Chinmayee's voice brought in that extra depth to Anjali.
Tamil is my mother tongue and I have been settled in Hyderabad for the past 6 plus years and have been working in this industry. I have done a few Tamil films, and one of them, Vinmeengal was critically acclaimed too but no one went and watched it. My first film was Moscowin Cauvery. I was struggling to get offers in Tamil. Andala Rakshasi in Telugu changed the game for me and overnight it established me as a known face there, it gave me a following. It was an automatic choice for me to settle down in Hyderabad, learn the language. This is my home, this is where I work and this is where I have all my contacts. Eventually, when it came to making a film, it automatically was in Telugu. One of my friends had told me that I would not have come a full circle if I had not made a film in my mother tongue. Chinmayee has also been asking me to remake Chi La Sow in Tamil but it is not fun doing the same thing again. But I am sure I would definitely direct a Tamil film in future.
There were so many incidents; I don't know where to begin. Kishore is one of my best friends in the industry and next to Chinmayee, if someone appreciates him for his work, I am more than delighted. I am so glad that he is getting plaudits for my film too. It was the 2nd day of shoot and Kishore was shooting in a far-away place for a different film. After wrap there, he came all the way to wish me. We were talking and suddenly, I felt I can shoot his portions too on that day although it was not meant to be. Immediately everything was set and we shot. Kishore, in all his interviews, recounts this.
When Chinmayee came for dubbing, I had made her do a lot of retakes till the point she caught my Anjali. She in fact jocularly said, she would never dub for my film any more. Of course, she was half-kidding! But when I caught the right note for Anjali, Chinnu simply aced it.
When it came to Rohini garu, we had discussed a lot on bipolar and its characterization. I sent her a lot of YouTube videos and materials. One of the scenes, where she had to tell her daughter that she has been a burden, I felt it was like a sad person talking and not a depressed one. When I showed this on monitor, Rohini immediately understood and she nailed it in the next take.
As I had mentioned before, Arjun was mostly modelled upon me when I was 27. But I have always had a good emotional quotient, empathetic and observant which helped me in extrapolating Arjun. Everybody is a living contrast and we all have many sides to our personality. Although Arjun and Anjali are polar opposites, there is also compatibility between them which has been brought out in many scenes especially the police station scene. Most of the scenes were written that way. Since I had the clarity of how Arjun and Anjali should be, the characterization was consistent. Maybe that's why you feel the characters are so real. I also understand people like Arjun and Anjali. Most of my best friends after school have been women. I am someone who is very emotionally attached to my mom from a very young age. I would like to think I have a slightly better understanding of women than the average man in our country. Perhaps that helped in understanding Anjali better and write her well
Acting is physically strenuous but it is a far easier job. As an actor, I go to the sets, do my work as per the director, finish for the day, come home and sleep. Once a project is done, you move on to the next. But director's job is not like that. From the time the story is conceived till a week after the release, he cannot log off. There is constant thought process, which can be mentally draining but that is the only way to get it done. When I saw the first cut of Chi La Sow, I was glad that I made a film that was exactly in my head. I have a fantastic editor, a great cameraman and a brilliant music director to thank for as they were all in the same wavelength as mine and understood what I wanted. It is draining, it is difficult, there is a lot of pressure, but that's exactly why it is the greatest job in the world. If I had to pick direction or acting I would pick only the former.
As regards my long time future, direction will definitely be my priority; it's always been my dream. Luckily the film has been well received and I would get more opportunities to direct. But I don't intend to quit acting. In fact, my next two releases are going to be as an actor. Post this, my next project would be as a director. I might take up an acting gig after that.
We really wanted to release the film with subtitles in Chennai and Bangalore but hit a roadblock. Apparently there is a new rule introduced few days back that said you can't add subtitles to a film in Indian territory after the censor is done. Apparently we have to apply all over again and go through the censor process. Usually we apply for censor, if cuts are suggested, we implement them and add the subs. But in this case, we did not have time to add the subs as our censor certificate came five days before the release. We didn't have the time to reapply for censor. But we have been getting feedback from Chennai that without the subs people were able to follow the film. I am very happy for that.