NRI woes

Chandrashekhar of Yedakallu Guddadamele fame, is donning the role of director with his film that throws light on the dilemmas faced by NRIs, finds out SRIKANTH SRINIVASA

Actor-turned-filmmaker Chandrashekar (of Puttanna Kanagal’s Yedakallu Guddadamele fame) has completed his first directorial venture Poorvapara based on renowned novelist M K Indira’s work.

The film has been in the making for close to more than two years. Perhaps, Poorvapara will be the first Kannada film to be shot in the exclusive locales of Canada. Initially, the American settled Chandru wanted to shoot for this film in the US, but post 9/11 attacks, the US authorities have been harsh in granting visas to visitors. Tired of waiting endlessly for US visas, he has himself moved to Canada and got the visas processed swiftly for his crew to complete his film in his new home.

Chandru, who is also producing the film has canned a major part of the film in Sringeri before enplaning to Canada to complete the shoots. The film crew in Canada has traversed long distances. The film has been shot in locales of Denver in Colarado state (US), Parliament Hills in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Montreal and the picturesque Niagara Falls.

The film is about the dilemmas faced by the first generation Indians settled in the US and Canada who cannot return to India but are caught in two minds. Chandru feels that the story is interesting because the novelist M K Indira had imagined a storyline such as this even in the 1960s. Says he, “This problem continues to persist even to this day. Children who leave their parents in India in search of greener pastures are unable to look after their ageing parents and at the same time cannot return home. Parents find it difficult to adapt to the new environment despite the fact that they have their children for company. This story is true of almost every Indian family.”

Chandru says Poorvapara is not only visually driven but has a powerful plot to back. He says the film tries to convey a message to the NRIs and their parents living in India about the dilemmas faced by those who have left the country and those who are waiting for them back home. Essentially, the film turns the spotlight on NRIs going in search of their roots and their dilemmas in bringing up children in a different environment.

The audience would get to see Canadian Tower which is one of the tallest structures in the world and the Museum of Civilisation. That’s not all. He says the film is shot in Denver, a ski resort, situated 13,000 feet above sea level. Chandru does not forget to add he had taken a lot of help from Independent Film-makers of Ottawa (IFCO), a body that supports film-makers to get permissions be it for shooting ad films, corporate films, feature films or music videos.

Three persons from IFCO including two women -Sarah and Tessa helped Chandru in the filmmaking process. G S Bhaskar is the cinematographer. The film is co-directed by Sawanth Sanapuji and K S Sridhar (Indian portion) and stars Geetha (now settled in New Jersey), Srinath, Naveen Mayur, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy and Chandru himself.