Of late sports has become a huge source of inspiration for filmmakers in the country. Besides captivating audience imaginations with strong, inspirational stories, they also set the cash registers ringing. Films like Chak De India, Paan Singh Tomar, Mary Kom, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Azhar, Dangal, Sultan, Iqbal, M S Dhoni, Sachin, Gold, Lagan Mukkabaz, Apne, Patiyala House, and Budhiya Singh pleased the audience and critics alike, besides succeeding in box-office. At the same time, these films helped in highlighting patriotism to a larger extent.
In the last few years, Kannada films were also made with the sports backdrop, such as Kotreshi Kanasu, Prasad, Kabaddi Sachin, Bengaluru 560023, Aryan, Ajay among others. the multilingual, mega budget- Pailwaan by Krishna can be viewed as complete movie on sports and is being viewed as path-breaking film in Kannada cinema.
Subbanna Krishna, better known as S Krishna, a less-known cinematographer, became a household name in 2006, because of his breath taking images, the sheer beauty of monsoon in Malnad and showing for the first time, the country’s tallest waterfalls-Jog, with all its colours from every possible angle in Mungaru Male. His picturesque frames are one of the several reasons for the unprecedented success of this romantic cult classic by Yogaraj Bhat.
After being cinematographer for nearly 15 films, he wore the director’s cap for Gajakesari, starring Yash and with Sudeep in the lead for Hebbuli . Now cinematographer, turned movie maker, Krishna is all set to experiment with native sport Kusti (wrestling), besides boxing, with Sudeep in the lead role. In fact, wrestling or Kusti is akin to football in Brazil in several parts of Karnataka, Indian Wrestling Federation organises Kusti Habba in Karnataka every year. Kusti was shown earlier in few Kannada films too. While Dr. Rajkumar showed prowess in Kusti in Mayura , Vishnuvardhan exhibited his talent in Nagarahavu .
20bgfr_pailwan3
The film aptly titled as Pailwaan claims to be one of the costliest productions on the lines of Villain, KGF , and Kurukshetra . Krishna has shot the film in various locations including Hyderabad, Mumbai, Mysuru and Bengaluru and he is projecting Sudeep, basically as a native wrestler, and a boxer in the later part of the film. Bollywood stars including Kabir Duhan Singh, Sunil Shetty and Sushanth Singh sharing screen with Sudeep will help in offering pan-Indian character to Pailwan. Krishna summoned Larnell Stovall, stunt expert and choreographer from Hollywood (of Captain America, The Hunger Games and Dragon Eyes fame), to provide global value for the film.
With the release of Sultan and Dangal in 2006 and their subsequent critical and financial success in raking the big bucks and also impressing viewers and critics, opened door of ideas for filmmakers across the country to search for themes centred on sports. Is it the same reason for Krishna to write the story of Pailwan ?
Krishna an alumnus of the Government Film and Television Institute-Karnataka, refuses to acknowledge that he was enthused or inspired by the success of Sultan and Dangal. “I thought about making a film on Kusti long before the release of Sultan and Dangal . The Pailwan story started brewing in my mind in 2014. But there was an apprehension at that time -- it felt difficult to convince a star actor to essay role of wrestler. Interestingly, after the success of Sultan and Dangal , Sudeep expressed his desire to essay the role. I narrated the story of Pailwan , which was ready to launch the project. Besides agreeing to essay the role, Sudeep even forced me to produce the film, which I never dreamt at all. He did not agree to act, till I accepted the offer of producing the film with all his support,” he says.
“However, when we decided to make a film on wrestling with a mix of boxing, as Sultan and Dangal were fresh in the minds of the audience, necessary changes were made to the screenplay and added a new dimension to provide a fresh look for Pailvan. It took two years for the film to take off. I spent some six months on the script. As I had the structure in my mind, stress was given on how to adopt that to screenplay," he adds, to explain the uniqueness of Pailwaan .
Ask him what Pailwaan is all about? “Everyone loves the underdog. No story captures the attention of the audience like plucky underdog who somehow reaches the pinnacle of their sport. That too in the Indian context, an established champion pulling off a massive upset over what looks like an unbeatable opponent will be the favourite of audience. Sudeep in Pailwaan is also an underdog. Born with a purpose, how he would succeed in achieving it, is the fulcrum of the movie. The film also explores the plight of sports persons, who cannot reach their goals despite being talented, just because of financial constraints,” he explains.
20bgfr_pailwan2
At the same time, he has sufficient reason to blend wrestling and boxing to take the movie to another level. What made him to get the support of the second sport? Is it to simply boost the image of Sudeep? “No. Boxing is just an excuse to provide a fresh look to the story. It helps, in projecting, how a wrestler takes recourse to boxing, when he fails in the former. But the focus is completely on wrestling itself. I did a detailed research of the state of wrestling in Karnataka. Visited Chitradurga, Davanagere, Belagavi and Mysuru, where wrestling is a favourite sports and there are Garadi Manes (small area, where wrestlers are trained on Kemmannu Matti – brick soil arena). The entire film has been shot in over 20 specially erected sets, from boxing rings to stadiums with wrestling akhadas to entire villages. Is he nervous that the audience will compare Sultan and Dangal with Pailwaan?
Without mincing words: “Audience accepted both Sultan and Dangal . However, comparisons cannot be avoided. I can only say, those two movies gave me confidence that there is an audience if we offer different treatment for the film on sports. Pailwaan has nothing to do with other wrestling and boxing films released so far. We have given more stress on wrestling, especially Desi Kusti.”
Is it advantageous for film makers to make films on sports now, as the underdog sportsman-aka protagonist finally wins? “I can say both yes and no for this. Of course, the advantage is victory of the protagonist in the end. At the same time, there is the responsibility of projecting the star in the right perspective and please the audience and his fans. As far as I am concerned, the success of a movie always depends on how a film maker excites the audience through content. Trends and other things follow. Pailwaan is another of my attempt to make movies in different genres.”
Did he think Pailwaan will be such a big film with a budget of over Rs. 50 crore? "My initial plan was to make a sports movie in Kannada. Watching the content, people from various film industries approached me to make this multilingual and turn it into a pan-Indian film. Also because it had Sudeep, who has a presence in all languages."
