‘Iruve’ is a 17 minute Kannada short film written and directed by Rajesh Ramaswamy, fondly known as Ramsam, an ad film maker and the founder of The Script Room, a Bangalore based writers hub.
The debutant short filmmaker, who is also the brain behind the cult ad tagline Yella OK Cool Drink Yaake that featured Upendra two decades ago, shares, “I am a huge fan of RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days, and have admired the kind of story telling of RK Narayan and the way these stories were adapted to screen by Shankar Nag. The simple narrative style, the extremely relatable characters and the nuanced observations of these common people, is something that I really enjoy.
Ever since, I have been writing stories about regular people who we all meet everyday.
Stories drawn from real life. I have always looked at people, observed them closely, wondering what their story could be. I have taken them into my own imaginative world and spun stories around them, that I now believe that they really exist.” – Rajesh Ramaswamy (Ramsam)
Iruve is one such story set in Jayanagar. It’s about this 70 year old man Govindiah, whose house is infested with red ants. He commissions a pesticide controller, Kumara to get rid of them. What follows is a slice of life drama that unfurls, given the oddness of the characters involved in a situational comedy that is inherent in the plot.
It stars veteran actor Dattanna and character actor Mahantesh, who is known for his comic timing. It also stars a mix of other interesting talents Prakash Thuminad, Rohit Srinath, Sonu Venugopal, Anirudh Acharya and many other artists.
Though this is a Kannada short film, we believe that it will have a wider audience as the story is universal.
This is also the debut production by ‘The Script Room’. Our biggest motivation was to collaborate with local talent. And to discover young and upcoming talent. The entire cast and crew is from Bangalore.
In today’s day and age, so many talented people are producing great content without much fanfare. And it’s rather strange and unfortunate that film making has turned out to be complex task. The rigidity of the roles, the processes involved in getting a project green lit, the marketing, the pitch, the selling of it to the right platform could suck out the joy of it.
So we decided to make this just for the love of it, without thinking too much about it.
We had a lot of fun making this. Everyone came together with such enthusiasm and brimming with ideas. And nobody stuck to their roles. Anirudh who was the chosen AD of the film, ended up being the main casting person. And also managed to source the needed ants for the film. By scouting for an ant wrangler which is a strange requirement. Navin Muraleedharan who is a writer at The Script Room, but has been a closet musician, ended up doing the BGM. And Ayyappan Raj and Sudhir Rajasekharan who were in account management of ads, turned producers for the first time.
Sonu Venugopal, Prakash Thuminad and Rohit Srinath were the kind of cast that came to mind while jamming after the narrations. They didn’t bat an eyelid, and just happily agreed to be a part of it.
The kind of enthusiasm Mahantesh displayed was insane. Like he bought his own wardrobe as it suited the character a lot better.
The film is shot by cinematographer Sahadev Kelvadi (of Gantumoote and Kenda fame), and is edited by Surya Vasishta from Asthu studios. Both contributed to the project beyond their role, since they are also directors themselves.
Chaithra Puthraya and team did the production design. Like bringing in some props from their own homes that can add to the authenticity.
The sound was recorded live and synced by Chris to make it sound as real and natural as possible.
Aakarshita who made her debut as a DA on this project ended up making her parents debut as actors as well.
I still remember the first time we approached Dattanna with the story, he said
“Ha ha. Ok…I like the story. But what is your main ‘Uddesha’ (Objective) to make this film?”
This was a loaded question. But the only honest answer was
“Sir, just for the fun of it.”
And yes we had a lot of fun making it. And we are hoping that everyone have the same fun while watching it.
Which is why we have made it available on YouTube for anyone to watch it for free.
FAQs
Yella ok, short film yaake?
How RK Narayan’s storytelling led to the birth of Iruve/Dattanna and Mahantesh headline Iruve, a fun drama set in Jayanagar
This short film marks the debut of ad filmmaker Rajesh Ramaswamy as a short film director
‘Iruve’ is a 17-minute-long Kannada short film written and directed by Rajesh Ramaswamy, fondly known as Ramsam, an ad filmmaker and the founder of The Script Room, a Bengaluru-based writers’ hub. The film stars Dattanna and Mahantesh in the lead roles, with an interesting ensemble cast. The debutant short filmmaker, who is also the brain behind the cult ad tagline Yella OK Cool Drink Yaake that featured Upendra two decades ago, gets candid about his journey into filmmaking.
What is iruve?
Iruve (ants), is a 17 minute short kannada film starring Datanna and Mahantesh in the lead roles. It’s set in Jayanagar. It’s about this 70 year old man Govindiah, whose house is infested with red ants. He commissions a pesticide controller, Kumara to get rid of them. What follows is a slice of life drama that unfurls, given the oddness of the characters involved in a situational comedy that is inherent in the plot.
It also stars a mix of other interesting talents Prakash Thuminad, Rohit Srinath, Sonu Venugopal, Anirudh Acharya and many other artists.
What prompted you to make this film?
I am a huge fan of RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days, and have admired the kind of story telling of RK Narayan and a great admirer of the way these stories were adapted to screen by Shankar Nag. The simple narrative style, the extremely relatable characters and the nuanced observations of these common people, is something that I really enjoy as a viewer or reader.
Ever since, I have been writing stories about regular people who we all meet everyday. Over the years, these have resulted in a bunch of short stories. Very simply put, ‘Uncommon stories of common people’.
Stories drawn from real life. I have always looked at people, observed them closely, wondering what their story could be. I have taken them into my own imaginative world and spun stories around them, that I now believe that th really exist.
Iruve is one such short film.
Tell us a little more about your background. Why a kannada short film?
I am born and brought up in South Bangalore. I have always been in advertising. In fact the very first ad I wrote was in Kannada for a local beer brand endorsed by Uppi. The campaign was called ‘Yella ok. Cool drink Yaake?’.
It was the campaign that gained a lot of popularity. It is the reason why I managed to gain a foothold in creative, and in advertising. It gave me all the motivation and a voice. I understood the power of insights and expressing it in a local lingo.
After that advertising took over. I moved to Lintas and worked on a lot of brands including Tanishq, Paperboat, Flipkart, Phone Pe and whole lot of national and regional brands.
But the joy of writing something that is set in your native, that can reflect something that is close to your life, your upbringing, your outlook, and can be expressed in a manner that can capture it closest to the way you imagine it was something that advertising cannot completely fulfil. So I decided to make something just to give that an outlet.
It turned out to be iruve.
You said you’ve been writing a bunch of short stories and other screenplays. But what made you narrow down on ‘Iruve’?
I wanted my first non ad film to be in Kannada. I had a bunch of other Kannada stories as well, which I eventually want to make. But I chose ‘Iruve’, because it happened to be one where I could explore an odd mix of various assorted characters. It is also light hearted. And makes for an easy fun watch. I was also very keen to collaborate with as much local talent as possible, as that is something that was missing while making ads. Because of the nature of the job. This provided me that opportunity. In fact the entire cast and crew including the post production, everything was done out of Bangalore. That is something that means a lot to me. Film making is a very collaborative process. And it is extremely essential that you keep meeting a lot of interesting people to make that happen. And what better than having them close to you.
This is also produced by your own firm ‘The Script Room’. A firm that is essentially a hub for writers. How did that happen?
Again partly by accident and partly by choice. We aren’t a production house. And don’t intend to be. But we decided to do this just for the fun of it. For the joy of creating something. And since that was the main objective, we decided to do it ourselves so that there are as least hurdles as possible, that hinder the process.
We just decided to organically make it in the best manner that we know. But yes, the main objective was to have fun. And experience the joy of collaboration and co-creation. We followed no rigid process.
We hear there was a fun team involved in making this film…
We had a lot of fun making this. Everyone came together with such enthusiasm and brimming with ideas. And nobody stuck to their roles. Anirudh, who was the chosen AD of the film, ended up being the main casting person. He also managed to source the needed ants for the film, by scouting for an ant wrangler. Navin Muraleedharan who is a writer at The Script Room, but has been a closet musician, ended up doing the BGM. Ayyappan Raj and Sudhir Rajasekharan who were in account management of ads, turned producers for the first time.
Sonu Venugopal, Prakash Thuminad and Rohit Srinath were the kind of cast that came to mind while jamming after the narrations. They didn’t bat an eyelid, and just happily agreed to be a part of it. The kind of enthusiasm Mahantesh displayed was insane. He even bought his own wardrobe as it suited the character a lot better.
The film is shot by cinematographer Sahadev Kelvadi (of Gantumoote and Kenda fame) and is edited by Surya Vasishta from Astu Studios. Both contributed to the project beyond their role, since they are also directors themselves.
Chaithra Puthraya and team did the production design. Like bringing in some props from their own homes that can add to the authenticity.
The sound was recorded live and synced by Chris to make it sound as real and natural as possible.
Aakarshita, who made her debut as a DA on this project, ended up making her parents debut as actors as well
This is a project of love, and we went with the flow organically, by deciding to simply make it without thinking too much about things that don’t matter to the joy of the process or the creativity of it. I still remember the first time we approached Dattanna with the story, he said, “Ha ha. Ok…I like the story. But what is your main ‘Uddesha’ (motivation) to make this film?”
This was a loaded question. But the only honest answer was, “Sir, just for the fun of it.”
And yes, we had a lot of fun making it. And we are hoping that everyone has the same fun while watching it, which is why we have made it available on YouTube for anyone to watch it for free.
3. BIO OF RAJESH RAMASWAMY (RAMSAM)
RAJESH RAMASWAMY (RAMSAM)
Rajesh Ramaswamy aka Ramsam, is and ad film maker and the founder of ‘The Script Room’, a writers hub.
In a career spanning over 20 years, all of it in advertising, Ramsam has written over 2000 ad films and directed over 200 of them. After spending a significant part of his career in Lintas, where he was heading the creative operations for south, he left to start his own firm ‘The Script Room’, a hub for writers. He also is an ad film maker at Coconut Films, Mumbai.
Over the years, he is recognized for this work on Tanishq, Paper Boat, Netflix, Phone Pe, Britannia, Fastrack, Flipkart, Oyo, Swiggy, Nykaa, Bumble and whole lot of other brands. He is known for his keen observations and refreshing insights, expressed very colloquially.
However, his favourite piece of work remains his first very campaign as a creative for a local beer brand in Kannada ‘Yella Ok, Cool Drink Yaake?’ with superstar Upendra. That is the campaign that gave him a foothold in creative, and prompted him to explore insights and express them in a local lingo.
Now, after over two decades, he now returns to explore a short story in a language that is most native to him as a storyteller and director with his first short film in Kannada – Iruve.
Ramsam remains a writer at the core, and has been penning all kinds of stories for many years, and hopes to bring more of his stories to life eventually.
The movie is live and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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