Rangayana Raghu on Shakhahaari – Playing chef Subbanna was challenging and artistically satisfying

When the trailer of the upcoming Kannada film Shakhahaari came out, it took most audiences by surprises. Here was a tale with Rangayana Raghu and Gopalkrishna Deshpande at the helm, with the former a chef at a vegetarian restaurant and he latter a police officer. Raghu’s character Subbanna, though, has a violent side to him, butchering someone and then disposing the remains too. Gopalkrishna’s investigation into this forms the crux of the story.

But what was it about Subbanna that intrigued Raghu? Speaking with director Sandeep Sunkad for a fun promotional video of the film, the actor explained that what struck him first was that the story did not seem like something that’d been lifted from, say, a Korean film. After all these years in cinema, Raghu felt that doing this character would not only be a challenge for him, but that it would also be artistically satisfying. There was something novel and refreshing about the role and the film, he said.

Shakhahaari trailer – Rangayana Raghu is a machete-wielding chef in this intense tale 

And while Raghu is not a fan of saying he has favourite scenes or found anything in particular challenging to do, as it is an actor’s responsibility to be in character and do his/her best at all times, he does mention that the climax of Shakhahaari will be much talked about. The actor says that Shakhahaari’s climax will have audiences literally on the edge of their seats.

Subbanna Bhat, says Raghu, is a character that stayed with him right from the first narration, which helped him with his preparation for the role. More than getting his body language and gestures right, Raghu said that his focus was on understanding Subbanna’s mind, someone who’d do something heinous and then pretend like nothing had happened.

Shakhahaari is Sandeep’s debut directorial and will be in theatres on February 16, a week that is chock-a-block with as many as 10 Kannada movies. The film also stars Sujay Shastry, Nidhi Hegde, Pratima Nayak, Vinay UJ, among others. Among the 10 films coming to theatres this week, though, Shakhahaari has got a good buzz going for it, following the trailer. Also in theatres are films like 5D, Ravike Prasanga, Saramsha, KTM, Ladies Bar, among others.

Saramsha, KTM, Abbabba, Shakhahaari, 5D and more among 10 Kannada releases on February 16