Tarun Bhasker on the sets
Tarun Bhasker talks about his debut feature film
After having a great run at various film festivals with his short films, Tarun Bhasker is now on the threshold of wrapping up his first feature film Pelli Choopulu.
Born and brought up in Hyderabad, Tarun, an alumnus of Hyderabad Public School, is a mechanical engineering graduate. He did corporate videos and graphic designing during college days and the money he earned from that was invested in buying cameras and film making. Tarun recalls, “My dad encouraged me but he insisted on me getting a degree first. After a year I figured out my interest lies elsewhere. I wanted to do something creative. So in 2004 made a few short films and put them up online. I did Anukokunda and it went to the Cannes film festival, which was a great boost. I made five short films after that and they got screened at film festivals and gained more recognition on Youtube that gave me confidence.”
Tarun wanted to bring in live sound into the films. A lot of our films being dubbed and with pre set dialogues there is hardly any freedom to the artistes to improvise and out of which the natural essence isn’t translating. He observes, “Now that technology is improving beyond our imagination, they are using sync sound in Tamil, Malayalam films and we don’t even know the difference except the content seems more real. I wanted to create a website where I can monetise on short films through micro payments. The short films have an audience and thought if we encourage them to pay Rs. 5 through the phone, I can make revenue. It worked and the movie happened. I wanted to bring out an accent that never was used in Telugu cinema and shoot in Warangal and see how it translates. There was entertainment angle and we got the sync sound equipment from Mumbai, it was the same equipment that was used for Gangs Of Wasseypur.”
Ask him how he managed it with so many spectators in the village, he says, “When the hero is eloping with his girlfriend, there were nearly hundred people watching from the terrace. We made sure that their bangle and anklet sounds did not get recorded. We had to educate while they were standing and watching the shoot. They all would maintain pin drop silence.”
#Pelli Choopulu# is a very urban comedy set in a middle class in Hyderabad. It shows the contrast between the old and young generations and the comedy of errors that can happen within the space.
The hash tag has been added because the concept of Pelli Choopulu dates back to another era and the couple are torn between arranged and love marriage. This film has a Telangana dialect, which Tarun says is just co-incidental. “I wasn’t exploiting on the bifurcation of the state, and very soon I might be doing a film on East and West Godavari. There are so many stories waiting to be told.”
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