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Arjun Kumar S started his career in showbiz as an assistant director for Kannada reality shows. After years of struggle, he finally managed to break out on his own as a director with the 2018 film Sankashta Kara Ganapathi. And then it didn’t take much of a struggle to find a producer for his second movie Family Pack. Late movie icon Puneeth Rajkumar, who had promoted the audio of Arjun’s first film under the label of PRK Productions, came onboard to bankroll Family Pack.
“Appu sir believed in this story,” Arjun told indianexpress.com as he recalled how Puneeth got him to reshoot some portions on a bigger scale. “He saw the dubbing version of the movie. He then called me and told, ‘I really liked the way you have executed the film. But, there are a couple of portions, which you can actually make richer. Are you okay re-shooting the portions?’ And I immediately agreed. He arranged beautiful sets and I reshot the scenes. The content was the same but we added more grandeur. But, the sad part is he didn’t see the final cut of the movie.”
Arjun Kumar S remembered Puneeth Rajkumar as a film connoisseur, for whom language was never a barrier. “Most of his movies were for mass audiences. They were big-budget commercial films. But, he watched a lot of shows and movies from across the world. He used to discuss Korean drama, Iranian movies. He also discussed how other industries produced small-budget, story-driven movies,” he added.
Arjun noted that Puneeth had ambitious plans to expand the scope and reach of Kannada cinema with the help of OTT platforms. “Appu sir’s family has produced around 87 movies under Sri Vajreshwari banners. And PRK is that company’s sister concern. He always knew there was an audience for all kinds of movies. The only thing is we have to market and deliver them properly to the audience. That was his vision for PRK Productions. He wanted to produce movies from different genres,” he said.
While Arjun Kumar S had initially designed Family Pack as a theatrical movie, it was on Puneeth Rajkumar’s advice that he made some changes and agreed to give it an OTT release. “It was scripted before PRK came onboard. Idea was to release it in theatres. But, Appu sir advised me to release it on Amazon Prime Video as his previous films were well-received on the platform. Also in the pandemic period, we felt that theatrical release will be difficult for a small budget film. We have to remain in theatres for at least two weeks to recover the budget. So we thought why not go with OTT?” he recalled.
Arjun’s Family Pack is a comical take on the drama that unfolds in big fat Indian weddings. “In India, marriage is not between two people. It is between two families. Each family has its own parameters to accept the other family. When families of different backgrounds meet, it is very difficult for them to adjust and adapt to each other’s ways. There is a lot of drama around it. And Family Pack explores those dramatic elements in it,” he concluded.
Family Pack, starring Rangayana Raghu, Amruta Iyengar and Likith Shetty among others, is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on February 17.
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