Exclusive! James is more than a film; it is an emotion about seeing Appu sir one last time onscreen: Chethan Kumar

Next week’s release, James , is writer-director Chethan Kumar’s biggest project till date. For the lyricist-turned-filmmaker, it is also the most prestigious film, as it stars Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar in the lead. There’s been a lot of buzz about this director-actor combination, but sadly for Chethan, his biggest pillar of support, Puneeth passed away last year, just as they were preparing to give final touches to the film. Tragic as this is, Chethan, however, is looking at the bright side of it that he got to work with the Power Star, who is fondly known as Appu, and spend quality time with him in the last few years,

With only days to go for the release of the film, we caught up with Chethan for a quick conversation about James, not having Puneeth around, etc.

In earlier conversations with the media, you have clarified that at the time of his passing, Puneeth only had a couple of songs and the dubbing pending to wrap up James. Despite that, you have managed to package it and get it ready for release on the late actor’s birthday next Thursday. But this is a film that ranks high on expectations among fans, so, have you at any point felt any pressure wondering if you have been able to live up to that?

Honestly, if I start thinking about all that, there will be no time for anything else. Also, there are two ways of looking at it – either in positive fashion or negative. I chose to go with the former and my single-minded focus has been to bring out the film as a birthday treat in Appu sir’s memory. Since his tragic passing, I have only been working towards meeting this date and that, I would say, was a pleasure, more than pressure. Losing Appu sir is, no doubt, a major and rather painful loss and I don’t think anything can hurt me more than that. I had the fortune of working on his last film, the journey of which is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

This is Appu sir’s treat that he has left behind for his fans. All that will be missing is a duet song, which, incidentally is a number that he loved. There was some pending patch work for a few scenes, but I have managed to complete them. Fans who’ve been waiting to see Appu sir onscreen again will get that one last time and they will see him in a role that he’s not done before. Today, James is not just a film, it is an emotion; the story, screenplay, etc., have become immaterial. James is and will always be only about Puneeth Rajkumar.

As a director, you always tend to look for work satisfaction and James gave me that. I know that meeting fan expectations is not easy, but I believe that we have been able to put together enough elements that will make Appu sir’s fans more than happy. I’ve done the best I could as a director.

And yet the audience response to the lyrical video of the Trademark song was mixed, with some liking the song, but not its picturization with composer Charanraj, rapper Chandan Shetty, and actresses Rachita Ram, Ashika Ranganath and Sreeleela, and vice versa.

There will always be 10% of the audience that will not like whatever you do. Normally, lyrical videos are done with photos from the actual song or other footage, but since this is rap number, we thought that the lyrics would not have the same impact by using only images. The lyrics had to be performed. Of course, if Appu sir was still around, this would have been done on an entirely different level. I would have perhaps released the video song, because he’s done a fantabulous job to Shekar master’s choreography. Personally, though, I think, this is a song that has to be seen on the big screen. Fans will enjoy it even better when they see it as part of the film. The lyrical video that we have released now is a tribute to Appu sir.

You mention that things would have been different if Puneeth was still around…

Of course, he was my biggest pillar of support in making this film and if he were still with us, I wouldn’t have had to speak about the film. For a commercial film, the hero is the face of the project. The void that Appu sir has left behind in this respect is massive and impossible for anyone to fill. His brother, Shivanna (Shivarajkumar) is supporting us as best as he can.

James has been a long journey for you with Puneeth. Could you elaborate?

This is a journey that began way back in 2015. We had announced James soon after I’d done Bahaddur. At the time, he was committed to three other projects and asked me not to wait around and do another project, so, I did Bharjari. By the time I was done with that, Appu sir was working on one film and yet again told me not to waste the interim time and that’s how I worked on Bharaate with Srii Murali sir. Thankfully, after Bharaate, Appu sir was also free and we got the project rolling in January 2020. Shortly after we began, the pandemic broke out and we then had to shoot whenever permissions came through.

Working with Appu sir has been a learning experience for me as a filmmaker; he has such in-depth knowledge of everything to do with films. If I were to take one step, he’d be three steps ahead of me. For instance, if I’d say lyrical video, he’d ask, ‘why don’t we do it in 3D?’. The beauty of Appu sir was how supportive he was of the people he worked with; if he had his arms around your shoulder, it’d give you the confidence to do anything in life.

You’ve released a teaser and a song, can fans expect anything else in the run-up to the film’s release?

Of course, on March 11th, there will be the lyrical video of Salaam Soldier, followed by a duet and a friendship song, depending on the time that we have before March 17.

James, produced by Kishore Pathikonda, has Priya Anand as the female lead and is set to release in theatres on March 17, 2022