Rakkhosh receives thundering response at world premiere at PIFF

India’s first POV film (a film where the camera is rigged to see everyone and everyone is seen talking to the camera) Rakkhosh, was screened to a thundering ovation at the Pune International Film Festival over the weekend after which famed journalist Sameer Nakhate interviewed Team Rakkhosh, consisting of producer Sayali Deshpande, Creative Producer Prashen Kyawal, writer and director Srinivinay Salian, film strategist S. Ramachandran and actors Barun Chandra, Sonamoni Jayant and Atul Mahale.

“When I heard the script, I knew I wanted the world to hear this story. So I decided to bankroll is,” says Sayali. Srivinay Salian who was then supposed to be just the writer for the film, got a narration of this story called Patient No 302, by Narayan Dharap, and was asked to write it. “I didn’t want to read the story and I said that I would write it first and if they didn’t like it, I would then read the book and then modify my script. Thankfully, they liked the story,” says Salian.

Rakkhosh produced by Santosh and Sayali Deshpande also Sanjay Mishra, Priyanka Bose, Tannishtha Chatterjee among others,

Creative Producer Prashen Kyawal says that the uniqueness of the film also got him hooked. “I liked the idea of the camera being the hero of the film. Normally actors are trained to look away from the cameras when saying their dialogues. But then this film needed the actors to look into the camera while saying their lines,” says Kyawal.

Barun Chanda who has worked in over 50 films including Seemabaddha directed by Satyajit Ray says, “I was given the script and as I read it, I could not put it down. It was a tough script, but I wanted to read it. I am sure, no one has ever made this kind of a film ever in India before,” says Chanda who essays the role of Dr Idris in the film.

Actor Sonomoni has a unique distinction. All the films she has worked in have bagged national awards. Be it films like Traffic Signal, Bose, Chillar Party, Shamitabh, Mukhabinay and Ventilator among others have gone to win national awards. 

“When I was narrated the script, the director knew the character very well and he exactly narrated what he wanted from the actor. And that was the reason why I did the film and it was a very unique project in itself,” says Sonomoni who plays a nurse in the film.

Actor Atul Mahale from Nagpur who has an important role in the film also talked about the challenges one has while doing a film in mental asylum. “If you see the film there are 150 people in the asylum, but each of them has a different character brief,” says Mahale.

Asked how he would describe the film, S Ramachandran says, "It is a film which tells you that there is an insane in every 'insaan'!'"

The film has been edited by Filmfare award-winning editor Dinesh Poojari.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Rakkhosh, PIFF, Barun Chandra, Sonamoni Jayant