Shoot at Site: Rio Raj's film is a fun ride in the offing

A narrow lane besides the 21st Street of Sri Krishna Nagar, Valasaravakkam, was crowded with a couple of caravans and other vehicles. The crew of Badri Venkatesh’s yet-to-be-titled movie was seen making arrangements for shooting an indoor scene on the ground floor of a multi-storey building. It was past 8pm, and the director seemed to be in a hurry as the scene, which featured the film’s principal cast — Rio Raj,

Ramya Nambeesan

, Robo Shankar and Bala Saravanan — had to be wrapped up in an hour’s time. The artistes, dressed in vibrant costumes, discussed the scene with each other and waited for cameraman Rajasekar to fix the frame. After he gave the thumbs-up sign to Venkatesh, the latter yelled, “Aaaaction!”

Robo Shankar, seen wearing a round neck T-shirt with Ramya’s image on it, tried to kill himself and the others stop him. “This is one of the many funny scenes in the film,” began Badri Venkatesh, adding, “The scene is about Robo Shankar, who is desperately in love with Ramya, getting disappointed over something and trying to end his life.”

The film is primarily a road movie, with elements of comedy, romance, and so on, he told us. “We are done with filming 50 per cent of the movie. The biggest advantage for us is the presence of several seasoned actors. I believe that when you have artistes who gel so well, your work becomes much easier. Our idea is to entertain the audience for two hours. Yuvan Shankar Raja has already given us three songs,” he said.

Rio Raj plays a software employee who hails from north Madras while Ramya essays a girl from a small town who also works in the IT sector. What happens a few days before the day she is supposed to go abroad for an offshore project forms the crux of the story, which has been written by AC Karunamoorthy. Radhakrishnan has penned the dialogues.

Venkatesh was excited to be working with Robo Shankar and Balasaravanan, whom he called “artistes who give more than what a director expects”.

My character is that of a north Madras paiyyan who speaks Madras bashai when he’s with parents, but talks in a sophisticated way with others as he is an IT employee. A situation forces him to travel with his friend and what follows is a fun ride. Unlike in my last film, I had to put in more effort this time because I’m acting alongside senior artistes.
— Rio Raj, actor

I’m playing a bold and ambitious girl who has to face some obstacles. How she accomplishes her dreams in spite of them will be narrated interestingly.
— Ramya Nambeesan, actress

I play a character who is madly in love with Ramya’s character. I think revealing anything more would spoil the fun. I’m really enjoying this combination scene — we are all having a ball.
— Robo Shankar, actor

It’s an out-and-out entertainer, from beginning to end. The story also has some twists and turns to it. We had a whale of a time shooting the comedy scenes. We had to go for several re-takes as the artistes would be laughing uncontrollably even when the camera was rolling. It’s been a while since I worked on a comedy film and it’s turning out to be a refreshing experience for me.
— B Rajasekar, cinematographer