New Delhi/Bengaluru: It is celebration time for T S Nagabharana’s “Allama” team on Friday, with the Kannada film getting two accolades at the 64th National Film Awards. More so for Bapu Padmanabha, a flutist who debuted in Sandalwood as a music director for this the film. His very first kiss with the movie world it has ended up in excellence with him winning the award for his maiden compositions.
Thanking director Nagabharana for allowing total creative freedom in his debut project as composer, he said,”Our collaboration for Allama happened over three years ago, even before he began shooting the film and continued over its making. He would explain the visuals for each scene and we would plan the background score or the songs accordingly.
Personally, Allama is one of my favourite subjects and it gave me immense pleasure to work on this film.”
Bapu offered reverence to his Guru Pandit Hariprasad Chourasia for being able to convert the vachanas musically for the big screen. The only brief he got from the filmmaker was to ensure that the vachanas were not drowned out by the music, as they are very lyrical. “The music had to complement the meaning of the vachanas, as well as the visuals, which was an enriching and challenging proposition,” says the music director.
Veteran makeup artist M K Ramakrishnan, won the award for Best Makeup for Allama and indeed it is a tribute to his career spanning for over four decades in the film industry.
“This is my first win at the national level and it gives me immense happiness that it was with a subject like this. Working on a historical is always challenging, as you don’t have much reference material to go by in planning the look of each character. On this film, the whole team brainstormed to figure out how best to portray each person. We did several trials, zeroed in on the look and often improvised on the set. The film required a lot of preparation and the work of wig maker Kumar has to be highlighted, as his work contributed to the overall look of Allama,” says an overjoyed Ramakrishna.
While the most challenging part was the makeup for actor Dhananjaya as Allama, especially in his old-age get up, Ramakrishna adds that getting the look right for the supporting cast was even more difficult. “For Allama himself, we had few reference materials, but that was not the case for most of the other characters and we had to take a leap of faith, hoping that we were as authentic as possible to how people dressed and looked back then,” he says.
