Mr and Mrs Naidu of Kavalu Daari are from the seventies

Hemanth M Rao’s second film Kavalu Daari, bankrolled by Puneeth Rajkumar under PRK Productions, is currently in the making. The film has Rishi in the lead as a police officer and Anant Nag playing a retired cop, along with a varied cast.

The director, who has completed sixty per cent of the shoot, introduces us to Mr and Mrs Naidu, the roles played by Sidhartha Madyamikka and Samanvita Shetty, respectively. The two sport a vintage seventies look, suggesting that a part of the film is set in that period.

Hemanth credits costume designer and stylist Inchara and Vinaya who got the look to the T, by picking the right suit and researching into women's dressing style in those days. “This helped us capture that period right,” he says.

The director reveals that the film is set in two time periods -- the seventies and the present. “In the film, these two characters, on whom the story revolves, are involved in a crime, which is later investigated by Anant sir and Rishi,” he says.  

Sidhartha, who debuted with Shuddhi, was asked to put on 15 kg for this role. “I heard that he had not been offered any good roles and that he had not signed on any other project after Shuddhi. Maybe he was destined to play this role in Kavalu Daari; he is a perfect fit,” he says.

Few scenes with Sidhartha and Samanvitha have been treated differently too, with the camera. Hemanth shares, “Recreating the past is always a challenge and Advaith Gurumurthy the cinematographer, suggested that we capture sequences set in the 70s differently. So, we decided to use old film lenses, which had been preserved by Puneeth Rajkumar. The scenes will be shot in colour, but their texture will be different. People rarely use old lenses now. Interestingly, Puneeth has 20 to 25-year-old lenses intact, and these were useful for our film.”  

Kavalu Daari has music by Charan Raj.