Mangaluru is as much a character in Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana as Hari and Shiva: Raj B Shetty

Raj B Shetty’s debut as a filmmaker and actor, Ondu Motteya Kathe, was a film that was made amid budgetary constraints, because of which it was mostly shot in fixed locations, like the inside of a house, college, etc. With his next, Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana (GGVV), Raj has got a wider canvas, and, hence, his hometown, Mangaluru, has become a major part of it.

When Raj decided to make GGVV, he wanted it to be the platform to showcase the unexplored side of the coastal city. In earlier interactions with the media, Raj has been quoted as saying, “Every place has a beauty of its own, not just Mangaluru, but it’s the people of that area who well and truly understand that. I have always believed that when making a film, the theme has to be universal, but the set-up has to be local. So, the people in the film, the language they speak, etc., have to be from that area. In that sense, GGVV is a film that puts my love for Mangaluru under the spotlight.” He added, “Whatever I was not able to do with OMK, I have done here. While OMK was mostly shot indoors, Mangaluru becomes a character in GGVV and hence, the film has been canned outdoors. Theme and set-up wise, this is a bigger film than OMK, I have put in as much effort as possible to portray the city in the best way that it suits the narrative.”

The filmmaker is candid when he says that GGVV is not for the faint-hearted and has a word of caution for those wanting to see it as his follow up to OMK. “OMK was about subtle humour, GGVV is a gruesome, dark gangster cinema, with a lot of bloodshed and violence. So, maybe family audiences should stay away,” he had said.