‘To me, Ram Gopal Varma is a university’

In Kavacha, which is slated for release this week, debutant director Vasu will direct veteran actor Shivarajkumar. The film is based on the Malayalam film Oppam, which starred Mohanlal in the lead, and it has been reworked to suit the sensibilities of the Kannada audience. 

The film features the Hatrick hero in the role of a blind man, as well as Kruthika Jayakumar, Isha Kopikar, Vasishta Simha, Baby Meenakshi, and Iti Acharya.

“Retaining the original plot of Oppam, I narrated the redrafted version to Shivanna,” says the director, adding that initially, the Century Star was not ready to be a part of the remake. However, after he heard the story, Shivanna was convinced that the plot is universal and inspiring. ‘I had closely watched Shivanna during the making of Killing Veerappan. That’s when I felt he would fit the role perfectly,” says Vasu, whose friend MVV Sathyanarayana will be producing the film.

Admitting that he was nervous about directing an established star, Vasu says the challenge was portraying Shivarajkumar outside a regular commercial plot. “Shivanna is a star with over 123 films to his credit. While he has proved his versatility with films like Jogi and Tagaru, he has also done films like Janumada Jodi and Thavarige Baa Thangi. Portraying him as a visually-impaired person was a huge responsibility. It wouldn’t have been possible without Shivanna’s cooperation,” he says.

To get deeper into the film, Vasu himself attempted the role, just to get an idea of the character. “As a director, I wanted to first judge the emotions of the character before I started handling the film,” he explains.

Having worked with RGV on a couple of projects, he says, helped him immensely. “To me, RGV is a university, from whom the potential to learn is infinite.”