Venkat Bharadwaj shoots The Painter during the lockdown

Bored or busy is something you will have to decide about your lockdown period. However, for the likes of Venkat Bharadwaj, the weeks have been busy with the making of his feature film, The Painter.  Venkat has previously directed A Day in the City, Kempirve and Omelette.

Presented by A Lab 19 Innovation, Amurtha Film Centre and Shekar Jayaram, the director has come up with one-hour 30-minute film, the shooting of which was done in 10 days. The film is now in the post-production stage, and the makers have now released the first look poster today. Interestingly, Venkat has utilised his IT experience and has executed the project by the hub and spoke method. In The Painter, he plays the lead, while the other comprises an ensemble cast. A 17-member crew was also part of the film, which has been shot in Bengaluru, Chennai, Tumakuru, Kanakapura and Hebbal.

According to Venkat, the story of the film revolves around the current situation of lockdown and how people react to various situations thereby bringing out various human vices, including selfishness, extortion and exploitation. “There is murder and lots of crime, which makes for a good thriller,” says the director who doesn’t want to reveal any more details. “I want people to enjoy the content once it releases,” he says about the film, on which he first started work in the first week of April, and then shooting began from the second week. “My challenge was to shoot at five different locations during the lockdown period. To make it easy, I shared details of my script, along with dialogues and technical specifications, which was monitored at end of each day,” says Venkat.

He goes on to add that the cast and crew utilised this lockdown very effectively, focusing and getting themselves involved in the character and technicality of the roles. With a few lights we had in the house we managed. When we need additional lighting, we used bamboo sticks, ropes, electrical wires and bulbs. We mostly used the household items to make things look natural,” says Venkat who is expecting The Painter to be ready by the end of May. “Our editor, Chandan, is on the job, after which I can chalk out the release plans,” he says.