No, Anita Chandrasekharan is not proclaiming to the world that she is going to marry. Knock, Knock, I Am Going To Marry is Anita's debut film that belongs to an upcoming genre of Indian-English films targeting the urban centres.
After high school, the daughter of Pentamedia chief V Chandrasekharan was expected to study engineering, though she was always interested in Carnatic music. "It was not because my father was in the field that I chose engineering. Engineering has become a basic degree now. It has become so common that after your 12th [grade], instead of doing a degree course in science or the humanities, you do engineering. Soon, I realised there was nothing creative in engineering."
She found dancing, painting and singing more exciting. Her passion got a boost when Pentamedia started making animation films. She decided to learn more about animation after her engineering course. "It was creative. At the same time, it had something to do with computers too. I never ever thought that I would be in films. Some people say that filmmaking is all that they want to do. That was not true in my case."
After graduating in 1999, she enrolled for a three year masters course (Master of Fine Arts) in Loyola Marymount University, US, that offered filmmaking, not animation. "I thought I would learn filmmaking first and then move to animation. Once I started attending classes, I found filmmaking amazing! For the first time in my life, I sat on the first bench, listened to the lectures and enjoyed every class. We were taught how to write the story, screenplay and everything about filmmaking. That also included production."
To her surprise, Anita got top honours at her masters course. Both the short films she made in the second and third years were adjudged best short films at the university.
Anita passed out of the university in May 2002 with oodles of confidence. She got married, and soon cut a music album, Mugangal. "The album was not a gift to my husband. It was a gift to my parents on their wedding anniversary. My friend Mahesh Shankar and I used to write lyrics, set tunes and create a lot of songs in college.
We did it again, recorded it and presented the album to my parents. That lead to us recording a theme-based Tamil pop
album. The theme was six emotions. The album did pretty well."
Eventually, Anita decided to make a fun film for young people like her. The Hollywood comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding has just turned into a big hit in the US. "This film was a big inspiration for me. It was so much like an Indian story. The generation before us believes in arranged marriages, but we prefer love marriage. What interested me were the funny stories and incidents some of my friends narrated. Even though they were confused, the stories were hilarious."
The girl in Knock, Knock, I Am Going To Marry is a 24-year-old Tamil Brahmin working as a software professional in Bangalore. While her parents in Chennai pressure her to marry, she befriends a young guy from Punjab in the office. They fall in love. What follows is confusion and dilemma, but no dark moments or breakdowns. Anita has tried to see the humorous side of every incident.
Why English? "I am looking at a wider audience who would be fascinated by our culture. I do not want to confine myself to India alone. If I made the film in English, there is a big market out there. Moreover, most IT professionals converse in English. So I decided on English."
The success of films like Bend It Like Beckham and American Desi also gave her the courage to make a film with the world audience as her market.
After an approval from Tamil writer Sujatha, Anita began filming her script. Instead of approaching a production
house, Anita floated her own company N-viz Entertainment, putting in Rs 35 lakh from her own pocket and raising the shortfall from a bank loan. The cost of the film turned out to be just Rs 75 lakh.
Auditioning actors went on for quite some time as nobody satisfied Anita. By accident, she noticed a young Tamil actress giving an interview on a television channel. She was Rati, the heroine of Thankar Bachan's Solla Marantha Katha.
"I was impressed by her looks and body language. I also liked the way she conversed. She appeared quite
comfortable in both English and Tamil. I wanted an educated urban girl. She fitted well and became my Tamil Brahmin software professional."
The male software professional in the film, Suhas, a prominent veejay on SS channel who was introduced to Anita for the role, is also a Punjabi. "Suhas also joined the team. You won't believe the average age of our crew was 23."
Anita started shooting the film by the end of March in Chennai and in Bangalore. The film was ready in 25 days.
Another unique aspect about Anita's film is that it is shot in the digital format. "The future [of cinema] will be digital though it has not caught up here unlike in Hollywood. It is advantageous because lighting is easy, and shooting is fast. Time management is very easy. You also don't have to worry about the cost of the film as I was shooting with a digital camera."
Noted cinematographer P C Sreeram's (who is also making a digital film) assistant Prita, was Anita's cinematographer. Both Anita and Prita did a lot of research and tests for nearly a month. Only after both were satisfied with the test results did they start the real shooting of the film.
"The moviegoing crowd is young. They are my target audience; those who are 18 and above. I am quite optimistic about my film," she smiles.
Knock, Knock, I Am Going To Marry released in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad on December 25.
After high school, the daughter of Pentamedia chief V Chandrasekharan was expected to study engineering, though she was always interested in Carnatic music. "It was not because my father was in the field that I chose engineering. Engineering has become a basic degree now. It has become so common that after your 12th [grade], instead of doing a degree course in science or the humanities, you do engineering. Soon, I realised there was nothing creative in engineering."
The girl in Knock, Knock, I Am Going To Marry is a 24-year-old Tamil Brahmin
Noted cinematographer P C Sreeram's (who is also making a digital film) assistant Prita, was Anita's cinematographer. Both Anita and Prita did a lot of research and tests for nearly a month. Only after both were satisfied with the test results did they start the real shooting of the film.