Exclusive! Preetham Gubbi: Baanadariyalli was not meant to be a Ganesh film initially
When Preetham was first told the story by cinematographer Preetha Jayaraman, he wanted to do the film with a newcomer and here’s why that changed
Sep 14, 2023
Ganesh in a still from the film
On September 28, Preetham Gubbi’s fourth collaboration with his long-time pal Golden Star Ganesh comes to theatres. Called Baanadariyalli, the film has been described as ‘not a love story, but a story about love’ and pairs Ganesh with two leading ladies, Rukmini Vasanth and Reeshma Nanaiah. Busy with last minute post-production work, Preetham spoke to OTTplay briefly about the film, which did not start out as a Ganesh venture.
Baanadariyalli’s story is by cinematographer Preetha Jayaraman. She’d told Preetham the basic plot line, which he found interesting and decided to develop into a film screenplay. “I wanted to make the film with a newcomer – either introduce someone or have a 1-2 film old actor on board. But as I continued writing and the gravity of some of the sequences hit me, I realized that this was not something a newbie could handle. It needed someone with experience, who would understand the character and after a point, I could not think of anyone but Ganesh to play the role. Ganesh is a brilliant actor when it comes to emotions; the way he carries scenes, whether it is humour or gut-wrenchingly sentimental, he literally gives life to the subject,” says Preetham.
When he then narrated the story to Ganesh, the actor was also thrilled that it was something new for him, as far as our collaborations go, while also playing on his strengths. “Every film will have a love story in it, but the way it is explored in Baanadariyalli is new. Each and every character has a definition of love. It’s not just about a boy and girl meeting and falling in love; it’s about how you value that love. That’s what I liked about this story. Also, the film had a new look and feel to it. I had never visited Africa in my life, but I wrote about it sitting here in Bengaluru, based purely on information I gathered online. And then I had to figure out where we could shoot these sequences in the continent. That was a brilliant experience,” adds Preetham.
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