Undenaama director: I was worried when I got no reaction from Komal sir during the script narration

Back in 2020, after the first pandemic lockdown, Komal Kumar had announced he was doing a new film based on what was happening in society then. The film, Undenaama - he had told us, was a rollicking comedy that had him in splits during the entire narration. But if director KL Rajshekar is to be believed, Komal had given him no indication of how funny his script actually is during the narration.

Speaking during the film’s trailer launch, the filmmaker said that when he approached Komal for the role, the actor called him for a narration. Rajshekar was quite confident about his subject and that he had written a rib-tickling comedy, but to his dismay, no matter what he said, he got no reaction out of Komal. “He was just listening to me in rapt attention; with no change on his face. I was quite worried if I had actually gone wrong with my writing. But I persevered and told him the entire story, at the end of which he said that no matter who is in the film, it will be a hit. That gave me a big confidence boost,” says Rajshekar.

Unfortunately for the team, though, when the disastrous second wave of the pandemic struck, Komal caught the virus and was in bad shape for a while. This was a time when it was believed that anyone put on ventilator does not make it. And yet he miraculously made a slow, but complete recovery. “After Komal sir came back home and we were ready to restart the shoot, we did not realize how badly he’d been affected. On set, it became evident that he’d be out of breath at the slightest exertion and that even the minutest pollutants could set off a wheezing issue. But as soon as we’d be ready for a take, he would conjure all his energy reserves and do whatever was required for the film,” said the filmmaker.