Debutant drector Chananiraju along with lead actors, Madhava and Swathi Konde, landed in Kerala for a photoshoot of their film, Bharani, recently. Reason? Elephants play a major role in the film, and portions of it will be shot with the animal, reveals the first-time director. “It took us four months to get permission from the Animal Board to do a photoshoot with the elephant. The moment we got the certificate, we headed to Kerala. We shot in Krishnapuram, and thankfully there was no flooding in that part,” he says.

The official launch of Bharani, which has the tagline ‘Parthavamanna Maga’, will take place sometime in the first week of September. “We are particular that someone from Rajkumar’s family does the clap for our film. We have spoken to Shivarajkumar and want fix the launch date according to his convenience,” the director adds.

The film, produced by Yogesh, is backed by Sajid Qureshi, the producer of Nagarahavu. The filmmakers shared the latest pictures of the lead pair with Cinema Express, which shows that Bharani has a typical village backdrop. The film’s is music by Vivek Chakravarthy and cinematography is by KR Shivakumar.