On a Quiet Note

Produced by film journalist L Rambabu Varma, Om claims the film is more complex than Singeetham Srinivasa Rao8217;s 1987 silent film Pushpak starring Kamal Haasan and Amala. 8220;I loved Pushpak, but it was very simple. My film is not at all like it.8221;

Budget was, as expected, a constraint and the commercially-oriented Telugu cinema is not known to be open to experimentation. But after the appreciation and success that films like Show a two-character film which won several awards last year managed to get, young film-makers have been encouraged to break some mainstream rules.

8220;These days, small-budget films are in. But even that genre is getting overexposed, so my film had to be really different,8221; Om says. 8220;Deciding to do a silent film was the easy part. The tough part was actually doing it.8221;

Writing the film turned out to be more time-consuming and draining than Om expected. He had to consciously picks moments where words were redundant.

8220;It shouldn8217;t feel as if words were required and we did without dialogue. For every scene, four options opened up,8221; describes Om, 8220;We took the path least explored. Sometimes, it took a week to write a single scene. The music by Indi-pop group Aryans is also designed specially so that it is almost like dialogue. The song sequences are such that lyrics aren8217;t needed.8221;

But won8217;t people see a film like Adbhut as an oddity? 8220;I think,8221; he replies, 8220;oddity can be a plus or a minus. This one8217;s a love story, a comedy, a fairy tale, a bit of sci-fi too8212;people will find it difficult to categorise. But their curiosity will be aroused.8221;

Made on a shoestring budget Om laughingly asks us to guess how much, the director says that he was forced to star in Adbhut because he couldn8217;t afford an actor. So he8217;s naturally all praise for Nandana, who 8220;threw no attitude at all, considering she8217;s Amartya Sen8217;s daughter8221;. The actress in question has travelled the globe through her offers. After Gautam Ghose8217;s Gudiya, she returned to do Bokshu: The Myth and several ad films including Pizza Hut and Everyuth.

Despite its budget, Om says Adbhut8217;s production designs haven8217;t suffered. 8220;Producers would tell me, 8216;Take as much money as you want to act8217;, but they wouldn8217;t give Rs 10 lakh for an offbeat film. Now directors say enviously, 8216;You are a director yourself, you don8217;t need us8217;.8221;

And in spite of his reluctance to act, Om has started getting offers in Mumbai for his 8220;cute8221; hero kind of looks. At the moment, however, he8217;s concentrating on his film.

Adbhut is scheduled to release in June, in two versions. A longer one for the domestic audience and a shorter one for the international market. 8220;At least, it will face no language barrier,8221; he concludes.