Team Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Exclusive | 'You learn how to love & emote through cinema'

Before going on to make films like Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu, Kavaludaari and, of course, Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, Hemanth M Rao's journey as both a cinephile and filmmaker began inside a movie hall. Hemanth has often spoken about the magic he has experienced in the darkness of a theatre and how the place, in itself, contains a unique world that unfolds at its own pace. And in rather fascinating ways, he says, this theatre potentially shapes you as an individual.

"You learn to love from films as people. Because it is very rare that your parents would sit down with you and tell you that this is how you find love in life. I suppose there's a certain time or age in an individual's life, regardless of gender, when you start to develop feelings for someone else, but you don't really know how to make that first step. And it isn't necessary that everybody is a cinema lover but films are definitely a huge outlet for you to understand how to communicate or express those feelings or even present oneself in such situations. It [cinema] becomes a very big tool that way, you know. In terms of rationalizing the aspirational value of romance, cinema does a very good job at it. For me, films like Pallavi Anu Pallavi and so many others have left such a lasting impression on me because I understood what romance is through these films," shares Hemanth in a conversation with OTTplay.

Watch Hemanth M Rao, Rakshit Shetty & Rukmini Vasanth in conversation with OTTplay:

"There's no ego felt with a movie character," says Rakshit Shetty

For Rakshit Shetty, who sat beside Hemanth Rao during this conversation, cinema is also a tool to not just understand romance or love but to also channel emotions like grief. A character in any particular film, he says, often finds ways to connect to you, the viewer, at a subconscious level so that those emotions could flow out with less inhibition.

Rakshit Shetty on what makes 'Manu' relevant: A hero like Manu, a film like Sapta Sagaradaache Ello feel relevant to the times we live in  

"I feel as individuals, we are mostly wired to suppress emotions and not express them with complete freedom. Especially when a certain incident occurs in our lives. But when you are watching someone else, a movie character, to be precise, going through something similar, it gets really easy to express yourself, to even maybe cry it out. That too in complete darkness, because you are able to relate to the character(s) in front of you. As Hemanth said, cinema is a great tool to get rid of those stored emotions in you because there's no ego felt between you and that character," says Rakshit.

"Actors make you feel the catharsis"

Rukmini Vasanth talks the Sapta Sagaradaache Ello experience: The film has changed me at a molecular level  

Rukmini Vasanth, who plays Priya to Rakshit Shetty's Manu in Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, substantiates this idea of a film being an instrument of catharsis with an interesting theory that dates back to Greek theatre days. "In essence, the job of the actor even back then was to go out there and ACT. As in they were the sacrificial lamb that went out there and performed for you to feel that catharsis. You don't go out to watch a film or a performance of any kind to necessarily 'feel' the feelings, but when you watch someone feel something, it allows you to express yourself. That emotional steam gets out of your head," she says.