‘My work in Head Bush will do all the talking’

Although Head Bush marks Shoonya’s directorial debut, he brings a decade of experience to his maiden project. “I have worked as an assistant director since 2009. I have been an associate with filmmakers like Rakshit Shetty, Suni, Aravind Shastry, and Pawan Kumar. Having said that, my training comes with my education. I’ve done my M.Sc in filmmaking, and I’m in the final year of pursuing my Ph.D. in films,” says Shoonya, adding, “Academics and practical knowledge have given me the confidence to handle a project independently.”

Shoonya credits writer Agnee Sridhar for giving him such a big break in his first film. “I connected with him at a book launch event a few years ago, and till today, he treats me like his son. In fact, Agnee Sridhar was in no frame of mind to take up films and was completely into social activities. However I managed to convince him, and finally, he agreed, and then, Head Bush happened. I consider this as his favour to me,” he says.

Delving deep into the making of Head Bush, which is based on Agnee’s autobiography, My Days in the Underworld, Shoonya says that the film will be realistic, and feel close to the incidents that took place in the period 1974-78. “The book is out in 3 volumes, and the first part of the two-part Head Bush only explores Volume 1. With the audience’s support, we can definitely explore this world even further,” says Shoonya.

Head Bush has a rather extensive ensemble at the centre of things. “We have eight heroes and two heroines playing the leads and that includes Dhananjay as MP Jayaraj, Raghu Mukherjee as MDN, Vasishta Simha as Kotwal Ramachandra, Yogi as Ganga, Balu Nagendra as Samson, Roshan Bachchan as KK Raja, Ravichandran as a professor, Devaraj, Poorna Chandra Mysuru, Sruthi Hariharan and Payal Rajput. This apart, we have a few character artists like Prakash Belawadi, Ankita, and Sampath among others playing pivotal roles. Along with the cast, we had at least 500 junior artists every day during shooting.”

Shoonya, who enjoyed the process of making Head Bush, says that the difficult part of working on the film was answering the naysayers and doubters. “I was bombarded with questions like ‘How can you handle such a big project?’ or ‘How can you handle so many established actors?’ But I’m confident that my work in Head Bush will do all the talking,” he says.

Backed by Daali Pictures and Somanna Talkies, Head Bush, with music by Charan Raj, is hitting the screens this week on October 21.