Rashmika is magical within the first few takes: Rahul Ravindran on directing The Girlfriend

“I don’t imply to sound cryptic, however I’d moderately not give an excessive amount of away and spoil the enjoyable,” says actor-writer-director Rahul Ravindran about his Telugu movie The Girlfriend, starring Rashmika Mandanna, releasing on November 7. Both, he says, really feel a way of gratitude as a narrative near their hearts readies for launch.

An incident Rahul heard of in school stayed with him for years. In the early 2010s, a preferred track sparked a development in South Indian cinema. “That track — which I’ll preserve unnamed for now — grew to become a part of a motion. I instructed myself that in the future I’d make a movie that shifts the gaze,” he says. “The Girlfriend isn’t a response to it, however it did set off a thought. The story, characters and feelings developed from there. The male protagonist got here first, although the attitude by which I inform the story is totally different.”

Shifting dynamic

When Rahul debuted as a writer-director in 2018 with the connection drama Chi La Sow, it caught everybody without warning. The movie went on to win the National Award for Best Original Screenplay. Between 2017 and 2019, Telugu cinema entered certainly one of its most dynamic phases, with movies throughout budgets exploring new themes and genres. Rahul remembers, “The different day, Sesh (actor-writer Adivi Sesh) talked about that proper after the Baahubali movies, the business was flush with funds — producers had a much bigger urge for food for dangers.”

Things have modified since then. Post-pandemic, producers and administrators have grown cautious, citing dwindling theatre footfalls. Rahul explains, “Internet and OTT penetration shot up throughout the pandemic. Add to that the rising price of dwelling, and other people have much less disposable earnings. No one desires to battle site visitors to observe one thing repetitive. But if the promos promise one thing recent and the movie is partaking, audiences will present up, and even forgive a couple of missteps.”

While conscious of this shifting viewers dynamic, Rahul says he doesn’t let it affect his writing. “The first draft needs to be the purest type of the story. It’s solely later — throughout budgeting and casting — that we must be conscious of the setting.”

Incompatible relationships

The promos of The Girlfriend have already sparked curiosity. Rahul says the trailer reveals solely a fraction of the story. “When I conceived this a decade in the past, we weren’t utilizing phrases like ‘poisonous’ to explain relationships,” he says. “Many assume it’s a narrative about toxicity, however I see it as one about incompatibility. Rashmika tells me this movie will really feel like a heat hug for women caught in uncomfortable relationships. I’d say it’s additionally for the boys who lack readability or emotional maturity. At 21 or 23, a man may consider he’s being the proper boyfriend with out realising why a lady pulls away. Sometimes, they only want one other perspective. I hope this movie makes even 5 p.c of them assume.”

Incidentally, The Girlfriend wasn’t the primary movie Rahul and Rashmika had deliberate underneath Geetha Arts. In 2021, they have been set to collaborate on a special story. But the disruptions attributable to the second and third waves of COVID-19 compelled Rashmika to reshuffle dates for her present commitments. “We weren’t filming for about 9 months,” Rahul remembers. “And I felt the story we had then not felt related. Producer Dheeraj talked about to Rashmika one other thought I’d spoken to him about earlier. She requested for the script, stated she’d learn it over the following few days — however referred to as me the very subsequent day and stated, ‘This is a narrative that must be instructed.’ We started filming in simply over two months.”

Reflecting on his writing course of, Rahul says the story first takes form in fragments in his thoughts. Once the construction is obvious, he begins writing. The screenplay for The Girlfriend was accomplished in simply 12 days. “After writing the primary ten pages, I shared them with a buddy to see if he may predict the place the story was headed,” he says. “His suggestions sparked a brand new line of thought. This is the primary time a narrative developed whereas I used to be writing it. It wasn’t troublesome — I’d begin round 11 a.m. and go on until 6 or 7 within the night. The eagerness to see the place it was going made the method pleasant.”

Intuition versus a calculated method

For a relationship drama to resonate, performances are key. Rahul credit Rashmika Mandanna and Deekshith Shetty for bringing emotional depth to the story. “Rashmika is intuitive. I’d speak to her intimately in regards to the character, scenario, and dialogues, and she or he’d take up every thing. Her first three takes are normally magical, so I’d ask my cinematographer, Krishnan Vasant, to ensure we captured each second,” he says. “Deekshith, however, rehearses meticulously and fine-tunes each element earlier than dealing with the digital camera. He can ship 50 takes with the identical depth. As a director, it was a pleasure adapting to every actor’s course of.”

There is already buzz that the censor board was impressed with The Girlfriend, suggesting it has the potential to win a National Award. Rahul, nonetheless, doesn’t dwell on that. “I’m simply ready to see how the viewers responds,” he says.

He additionally performs a short however pivotal position within the movie — as Rashmika’s voice of cause when her character is at a crossroads. “I’m in simply 5 – 6 scenes,” he smiles. “We had thought of different actors initially, however my group bulldozed me into doing it.”