Ravi Basrur shoots with 200 children

It’s vacation time for children and director Ravi Basrur seems to be more thrilled than the children themselves. In his hometown, Karavalli, where Ravi is currently shooting for his upcoming film, the director has roped in 200 children from across Karnataka.

Ravi is donning several hats — he’s currently composing tunes for KGF, writing dialogues for the Kataka sequel, and now, this yet-to-be-titled film, produced by NS Rajkumar, will see him take up the director’s mantle.

Even as he’s busy juggling all of these, the multi-talented personality took some time out to speak with Cinema Express. “I have already begun shooting, and want to complete the entire schedule before school re-opens. I want to be done with the portions involving children. So I’m aiming at May 30,” says Ravi.

Apart from child artiste Shlagha Saligrama, who played the lead in Kataka, the film also features 200 children from various parts of Karnataka including Bengaluru, Mandya, and Ramnagara, among other places. “These were the kids whom I had auditioned during the making of Kataka. Though most of them were talented, I had to pick only one child artiste for that film. These children were on my mind and I wanted to explore their talent on the big screen. Luckily, the script for this film could accommodate the role of children, and I was more than happy to bring them all them together,” he says.

Interestingly, this children’s film will be pucca commercial entertainer according to the filmmaker. “There is neither a hero nor a heroine in my film. Nor is it inspired from any real-life incidents. Having said that, the situations portrayed are something that everyone would have witnessed in their neighbourhood. That’s what I’m bringing to the big screen. In fact, those who are in on the details of my film, have told me that no one has attempted a film on such a subject. I guess this will be the first film in this genre in Kannada cinema,” he explains and adds, “It’s a typical children’s film, and will be an entertainer.”

He promises to reveal more details on the film and its context after May 25.

While Shlagha will be playing the lead in the film, Ravi is also introducing Ashlesh, a promising young talent. “We are also bringing talent from Drama Juniors -- Chitrali, Srisha, and Kavya Marvante will among the 200 child artistes,” he says.

With music to be composed by Ravi himself, the film’s cinematography is by Sachin Basrur. 

On KGF front, Ravi is said to have completed 70 per cent of work for the film, and is currently waiting for some footage from the director to take it forward. “As a music director, I am currently working on KGF and Suni’s Bazaar,” he says.