'RangiTaranga' director Anup Bhandari talks about his debut Kannada film completing 100 days

Software engineer Anup Bhandari’s debut directorial Kannada film, RangiTaranga, has just completed a 100 days in theatres. Having achieved a feat that is difficult in today’s competitive film space, the Kannada director is still contemplating on what his next movie should be.

In an exclusive chat with dna, he talks about RangiTaranga and what’s coming up next.

You're a software engineer. How did you get into films?

I wanted to become a music composer and, later, a filmmaker even before I joined an engineering college. It just took me this long to get here. I made almost half a dozen short films and knew I was ready for it.

What was your short film, WORDS, about?

WORDS was a simple story about a girl and a guy who is deaf and mute. It talked about their love story and eventually about how the deaf community is often misinterpreted by the hearing community. It starred Hollywood actor Russell Harvard of Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood fame and was shot in Central Park, New York. Lance Kaplan worked as the director of photography and he also ended up working me on RangiTaranga along with William David. It played in 13 international film festivals and we got a great response.

Were short films an experiment before a feature film?

I have made 5-6 short films and with each of them I started understanding more and more about filmmaking and also realised how little I knew. They helped me hone my skills and at the same time I had something to show to potential investors. It worked for me in both ways. HK Prakash came forward to produce RangiTaranga after he saw my work in WORDS.

Your debut Kannada film RangiTaranga has completed a 100 days.

It feels wonderful. In this day and age it is very difficult for a movie to run 100 days and being a film filled with newcomers it makes it even more special. We also completed 50 days in US, the first Kannada film ever to do so. More than the number of days, it is the amount of appreciation that the audience have showered on us which is very encouraging. 

Why did you cast your brother as the hero?

Nirup is from theatre background and I had him in mind while writing the character of Gautham. He had the height, the looks, the bass voice which everyone is loving and he is a good actor and dancer. We did approach some well-known actors and while they were impressed, we couldn't get their dates and we had to shoot it during the monsoon. It was our producer who suggested that we go with Nirup and things just fell in place. I am glad that it worked out the way it did. 

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Did you expect such success with your first film?

When I was writing the film, I felt it would be a hit. After we completed editing, we felt we had a good entertainer on our hands. But releasing it was a big challenge and sustaining the publicity after release was an even bigger challenge. That was the stage when I would have been happy if the film had completed 25 days. But the audience had a different plan altogether. They just took to a different level. 

You also have a rom-com, a thriller and a comedy planned. Which one's next for you?

We are yet to finalise it. I am doing all three of them for sure but we are figuring out what would be a good follow up for RangiTaranga.  

Any plans of remaking RangiTaranga in other languages?

We have a lot of offers for the remake rights in all major languages. Some of them want me to direct but I haven't really given it a thought as it would mean making the same movie all over again. 

You’re shuttling between Bangalore and the US. Is your family planning to move back now that your film is a superhit?

I am yet to take a call on that. For now the back and forth will continue for a few months. But it is hard and we are still trying to figure out.