Rakshit Shetty: We believed that ‘Sapta Sagaradaache Ello’ will find takers in Telugu

Ahead of the release of ‘Sapta Sagaralu Dhaati’, the Telugu version of the Kannada romance saga ‘Sapta Sagaradhaache Ello’, Rakshit Shetty, Hemanth Rao and Rukmini Vasanth assert that they believed their film would travel far and wide

Actor-producer Rakshit Shetty, writer-director Hemanth Rao and actor Rukmini Vasanth believed that their romantic saga, Sapta Sagaradhaache Ello-Side A (SSE-Side A), will travel far and wide. The Kannada film had a limited release in Hyderabad a few days ago and piqued curiosity after rave reviews poured in. With the Telugu version Sapta Sagaralu Dhaati - Side A, releasing on September 22, Rakshit Shetty tells The Hindu during a brief visit to the city that he believed in the film’s potential. “We have also dubbed in other languages, but Telugu will be the first one to be released.”

KGF and Kantara opened the floodgates for Kannada cinema to aim for a larger reach. Some of Rakshit’s previous films, such as 777 Charlie, Avane Srimannarayana and Kirik Party made him a familiar name among Telugu movie buffs. SSE-Side A differs from the rest in its poetic narration of a love story that can leave viewers emotionally hungover and waiting in anticipation of SSE-Side B, which releases in October.

Hemanth reveals that he was particular about the intonation and dialogue delivery for the Telugu version to ensure a similar experience as the original. “Vijay (Vijay Kumar), who handled the Telugu dubbing, saw the film and was moved and wanted to give his best in terms of writing. I trusted him.”

Hemanth and Vijay discussed voice modulation in detail. “The way you pause, smile or breathe makes a difference. We discussed the breathing pattern in terms of how someone speaks. Vijay sent me sample voice notes and we chose artistes who would fit the characters of Manu (Rakshit) and Priya (Rukmini).”

SSE-Side A wasn’t initially intended to be a two-part romance. Hemanth had a script in place but on set, structured some of the sequences to allow for more breathing space. Rakshit says he knew intuitively that they were on to something magical. “Somewhere down the line, he told me it is turning out to be more than one film. As a producer, I did not stress. We had only spent half the budget of what I had in mind. So we still had the rest of the money. If it organically turns out to be two films, it would be an advantage for me as a producer. We decided to shoot and then take a call,” recalls Rakshit.

Once the film was shot, Hemanth watched it and felt that this story would work better in two parts, allowing room for the emotional segments to breathe. Rakshit then watched the footage and agreed. “The script is my moral compass,” explains Hemanth. “But it is also like clay. A film communicates to you and you adapt to the scenario.”

SSE-Side A is an understated love story of a middle-class couple who dream of getting married and having a small house by the sea. An unexpected turn of events throws their life out of balance. Some segments could have been leveraged for masala moments but SSE-Side A holds back to a large extent.