The show must go on, but with precautions: Kabza director R Chandru

The Upendra-starrer, based on the underworld and set in the 1980s, will be out in seven languages
The show must go on, but with precautions: Kabza director R Chandru

The COVID-19 lockdown might have halted film production, but work has not stopped for R Chandru. The director, who is helming Kabza starring Upendra, says that the show must go on in the world of entertainment, but with necessary precautions.

The action-drama, based on the underworld and set in the 1980s, will be out in seven languages. It has been made in Kannada and Telugu, and will be dubbed and released in Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, and Bengali.

Chandru has completed editing the footage he has shot (40 per cent). “Apart from editing, I have also readied the trailer and a teaser of the film,” says the director, who has also worked on the dialogues in other languages.

All of this has been done online. “Fortunately, my residence and office are in the same building. I have 15 associates who are currently working in my team, and we are used to regularly starting our work at 7 am. We are still following the same pattern, just not on location. Instead we get together online and discuss what needs to be done for the day,” he shares.

The director is also in touch with Upendra regularly, updating him on the film’s progress. “We had come up with a large jail set up at Minerva Mills, at a huge cost. We will resume shooting the jail episode, as and when we get permission from the government,” says Chandru, who recently shared a new poster of the film.

Chandru, who is also bankrolling the film under the banner Siddheshwara Enterprises, has already got his team prepared for the post-lockdown shoot. “Since it is a big-budget film, we will have at least around 300 to 500 people, including junior artistes and the technical crew. So, we have decided to sanitise the entire floor every day, as well as the equipment that will be brought in for shooting. Like before, we will have restricted entry. We will also have temperature guns to check those visiting the set as well," he says.

Kabza has music by Ravi Basrur and cinematography by Arjun Shetty. Chandru is yet to finalise the film’s heroine.

With Upendra in the lead, Kabza boasts of a bevy of actors, including Kabir Duhan Singh, Kota Srinivas Rao, Jaya Prakash, Kaat Raju, Subbaraju, Avinash, and M Kamaraj, all of whom play antagonists.

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