June 29, 2012 Y. Sunitha Chowdhary
Debutant director Shankar Dayal has an elephantine, vivid memory. He still remembers his first day in school. "The teachers asked us what we would like to be when we grow up and I said either a train driver or a film director. That was in LKG, I remember watching a Bengali film and it made a deep impact on me. It feels good to see my dream finally being achieved," says the director whose bilingual Saguni released last Friday.
Ask him why he thought of Karthi to play the lead and why the latter chose a debutant when he is at the peak of his career, he has a prompt and a confident answer. "As soon as the idea germinated I couldn't think of anyone else but Karthi. He has a naughty look in his eyes imperative for a satirical script plus also has a mass image, moreover he had the passion for the script.
It is a mind game and the action should be more in the mind and stimulating enough. It is a fresh subject with a political backdrop, lot of humour and you will laugh from the first scene onwards. We are well aware that the mythological character is mentally fit and agile, and is known for scheming and plotting. Basically we convey that opportunities will not knock the door, we should create them."
Though Karthi plays a master planner in avenging his enemies, Saguni would, however, be different as he would be plotting the downfalls of his enemies who happen to be anti-social elements. It is actually a positive film in a way. He arrives to the city from Kakinada and changes his body language and clothes accordingly.
Every time a Tamil film releases, it struggles to get off it's Tamil accent and native feel. Will it be an encore? Shankar Dayal avers that for a change this time the people in Chennai will do the complaining that it will give out a Telugu feel.
"We are living in two different States but the politics in both the States is always the same. I shot the dialogue portion..75% of it in Hyderabad. Pranitha is the heroine." The director hails from Nandyal but has been born and brought up in Chennai. He has studied English Literature and Law but passion for directing a film took over both the subjects.
