The Audience Knows That I Will Do Something Different Each Time: Rakshit Shetty

Rakshit Shetty joined hands with director Hemanth M Rao, after working together in Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (2016) for their dream project. The duo has already completed two parts of an epic romance saga titled Sapta Saagaradaache Ello with the first part, Side A, already receiving critical acclaim. The film narrates the sprawling romance between two youngsters who go through a whirlwind of emotional heartbreak and grief in their efforts to stay united. The film also co-stars Rukmini Vasanth.

When asked about his initial reaction to the script, Rakshit Shetty explains, “I really wanted to do a love story, because after this, I will be directing Richard Anthony ( 2024), and I have a few other projects that are more serious. So I knew that I wouldn't be doing a love story in a while. So I badly wanted to be a part of this film.”

In today’s streaming era of movies where only spectacle and tentpole films attract audiences to the theaters, it's a huge risk to come out with a purely romantic film that might not naturally compel the viewers to make a visit to the theaters. Was Rakshit, who also produced the film, a bit apprehensive about people stepping into the theatres for a rather serious, meditative film? "Not at all," he quickly replies. “Keeping my remuneration aside, I knew that the money we were spending on the film was recoverable. In a way audiences have that sort of belief in my films, they know that this guy is going to do something very different each time. I know that there is a market for me in Kannada cinema based on my previous films. One more thing, I get to be a part of good cinema, that’s very important for me.”

Recalling his experiences from the filming of Sapta Saagaradaache Ello: Side A, Rakshit goes on to reveal, “Because we had participated in an actors workshop prior to shoot, it brought out a nice comfort level between me and Rukmini. That is the point from where we had to start shooting, I had to be in love with Priya, played by Rukmini. From then on, I was dependent on him as a filmmaker to guide me. Seeing how Hemanth is shooting each scene and editing in the spot, I came to understand his vision and just had to support him in achieving that on screen.”

Rakshit also reveals the toughest scene he had to shoot for the film, “There's a subway scene in the film, when Manu breaks the news to Priya. We shot Rukmini's close-ups first and were shooting my suggestion shots next. Firstly, we could not get two-three takes right because junior artists were not coordinated well but after that, I had to go through seven-eight takes where I went totally blank. I could not remember the lines and was delivering multiple lines at the same time. So I knew that there was some block inside me at that moment. So we took a break in shoot and when we came back luckily, I was back to normal and shot the sequence in a go,”

Rakshit is all praises for Hemanth Rao. Charting the journey of the filmmaker from his debut to this current collaboration, Rakshit goes on to say, "I think he has evolved as a person. The director was always inside him, also those were the times when he didn't want to take risks with somebody’s money. So in his film debut, he used to be very careful not to overspend. But now he has built a profile for himself in the industry. Artistically he has remained the same but his boundaries have grown as a storyteller.”

Sapta Saagaradaache Ello: Side B is currently in post-production and the film is set to be released in theatres on October 20. The film has been getting great reviews from all around.