.png)
As we are heading so close to the release of our first ever original production – "Kendaavare" (Red Lotus) a Kannada Romantic Melody, let us have a few flashbacks through a most fascinating interview with our popular director – Mr. Melwin Elpel.
Melwin Elpel has directed movies in multiple languages – Tulu, Konkani, and Kannada. His unmatching talent to view a story before it is on the screen, is what makes him super skilled and successful in this field.
From planning a location to the fun times and challenges the team faced, here is a short and sweet interview which is sure to have something for every single reader.
Melwin, could you please tell us the process you underwent to plan this location? Why did you feel it was suitable to shoot this melody?
I love travelling and most of my travels are towards places of rich greenery like Chennai, Chikkamagalur, Madikeri (Coorg) and so on. During one of my travels a place called “Tarikere” caught my attention, and I had made a note that if I get an opportunity to shoot a melodious romantic song, this location and Kemmangundi would just be perfect. When I heard “Kendaavare” for the first time, the way Mr. KK Raghu Ratttady has described love in such an amazing way, I could not think of any better place than this one to justify the song. It was a perfect match, and it added beauty and enhanced the whole concept of this romantic melody, taking it to the next level.
How did you select the actors for this project?
I had run an ad for auditions through my own team of artists, who are predominantly based in the districts of Mangalooru, Bengalooru and Mysuru. I preferred artists who have already had some experience in acting and I had received atleast a hundred applications for the same, out of which 30 were shortlisted, based on our criteria of their availability, location etc. Finally, we were able to select Mr. Vijith Kotian from Mangalooru and Ms. Chaitanya from Mysuru for the project. The co artists were also selected at the same time.
What was your favorite part of the whole shooting experience?
The Z point. To reach this amazing location it is a walking distance of 45 minutes. Since it was drizzling all day, and kind of wet weather, driving a car to that location wasn’t recommended. Walking towards the Z point wasn’t a cake walk at all, we were accompanied by leeches who feasted on the team! To add to the fun, each one of us had moments where we have slipped off and fell on the ground – as if we were taking turns to fall. It was a risky venture walking towards the hills, but we were on our guard and tried to make best use of the scenic beauty which was the main part of our plan. Sometimes the whole area was covered by fog, but we waited patiently for about an hour, until the fog disappeared but for a few other shots the fog added more beauty to the project. Overall, we had made a lifetime worth of beautiful memories to cherish through this experience.
Was the storyline inspired by an event in your life? Or was it purely your imagination?
The storyline was purely inspired by the lyrics of the song. The moment I heard this melody, it created a sequence in my mind. Moreover, during my recent visit to Chennai, I had observed that females loved wearing anklets, and almost all age groups loved to adorn themselves. A curiosity towards understanding that anklets were worn not only as an accessory but there was some cultural importance and has its own melody led me to choose it as the center of my simple storyline.
What were the challenges you faced during the shooting process? How did you manage it?
We had been to a waterfall for the shoot which was an amazingly beautiful place amidst deep and slippery slopes, that looked quite dangerous and would scare anyone at first glance. Yet, my team never gave up, we took all safety precautions and completed a difficult task and were able to capture this spectacular location in the project.
The place where the shooting happened had an excruciating cold weather. Every team member went through headaches and shivering during the process, and it was a risk, as we needed everyone to be healthy during the following days. I am ever grateful to my amazing team who have never left a stone unturned in making this project a success through their relentless support.
Another challenge was since we planned our shoot unintentionally during a public holiday, the resorts around were totally occupied. We were concerned if we would be crowded during our shooting process, which would turn it into a cumbersome process, but thankfully we could manage our timings in a way that the crowd was avoided to the maximum extent possible.
The location where we stayed was a remote area and the city was about 30 kms away. If we needed anything like props or for the generator fuel, we had to travel to the city back and forth. During this time Mr. Oscar our manager and Mr. Venky came to our rescue with their vehicles and were avuncular during our stay at the resort.
Any fun experiences you would like to share with our readers?
Yes, I remember one such funny incident, which was supposed to be a serious one, though it turned out to be jovial. During our night shoot, since we used the generator set, whenever the power came, the circuit got tripped and burnt the fuse, and this happened twice. We were so concerned if the guests would be disturbed, but the management had been kind enough to tolerate us, they provided us the support needed during our shoot and to our surprise the visitors of the resort, instead of getting annoyed appreciated us for our work and took selfies with our team! They appreciated the song even before the mastering was done.
I have another experience to share. Since our actress found the weather to be freezing, we had to burn wood even during the daytime, to keep her warm. I think we were the only bunch having daytime fire camp in the entire location.
Also, during our first day of shoot, we went on about 11:00 pm at night. The resort kitchen staff, had been requesting us if we could have our dinner from 9:30pm that day. But because we were in the middle of the process, we wanted the dinner to wait for some more time. They did not see us budge and since they had to wake up early in the morning, they kindly asked us to help ourselves when we were done and went to sleep. After the shoot was over, we went into the kitchen and had the whole kitchen and the food to ourselves, this was a different experience we had as a team and a memorable one too!
Tell us about your overall experience from beginning to search for a location until getting the final video to screen.
I always wanted to contribute as a director to JustRoll Films and was thrilled when I received an opportunity to direct a Kannada song. We approached my close friend Mr. KK Raghu Rattady, for lyrics to create heartfelt lyrics that described romance, and then my hunt for a perfect location began with my buddy Venkatesh Tarikere, and we happened to visit a location near Kemmanugundi, where we had a mesmerizing view of a park which was surrounded by several hills, the beauty of which cannot be expressed in words. However unfortunately this time we couldn’t shoot in that location due to time constraints. Once the shooting process was done, Mr. Sachin Bada helped us to wonderfully edit the video clips, and Mr. Nikhil Cariyappa has enhanced it even more by skillfully giving it a boost of color that was very crucial to drive home the overall feel of the song to our audience. Our DOP Mr. Danel Jaison has given his best to capture perfect cinematic angles, and our actors have beautifully performed all throughout the process. I will be ever grateful to the people of Tarikere, who were very helpful and co operative during our stay and work at the location. The resort management has been very kind and cooperative to us. My co director Mr. Norbert has been a great support all throughout this journey. All the co artists, especially Inchara and the boys Amman Karkera and Akshan Karkera have been helpful to find us a group of children for the Holi scene we had in the song. All in all the people who surrounded us during the shoot were fun loving, kind and supportive and we were really blessed to have such people around us.
I always wanted my team to enjoy what they were doing, rather than just treat it as work to be done. And I truly believe my team had a wonderful time from the beginning to the end of our shooting experience. I have been allowed to listen to the final output of our song during editing and words cannot express the beauty of vocals rendered by Mr. Prajoth D’Sa with capturing magical music arranged by Mr. Roshan D’Souza Angelore. I hope you all will enjoy Kendaavare! Thank you.
(End of interview)
We thank Melwin Elpel for his relentless efforts in making this project a dream come true and for sharing his fascinating experiences with us! We wish him all the very best in his future endeavor.
Here a few glimpses of Behind the Scene pictures for you to enjoy!
Cheers!
Team JustRoll Films
Comments