‘Sharabha’ sees UAE talent shine
Father-and-son duo make their plunge into films as producer and actor, with director Narasimha Rao’s debut feature
Mythily Ramachandran brings you the latest from South Indian entertainment After assisting a director like Shankar and in films such as Anniyan, Shivaji, Robot and I, Narasimha Rao was bound to experiment with new genres and not settle for the regular spate of romcoms that most debutants generally cut their teeth with.
Rao’s directorial Telugu venture Sharabha is a socio-fantasy thriller and produced by long time UAE resident and businessman, Ashwani Kumar Sehdev. His son Aakash Kumar Sehdev is playing the lead role, paired opposite Bollywood’s Mishti Chakraborti.
Sharabha is a story of good versus bad, said director Rao with doses of comedy, romance and action.
Chakraborti plays Divya, the daughter of a minister who visits the small town where the hero lives.
“My character Divya is an integral part of the story. It revolves around an incident Sehdev in ‘Sharabha’. that happens to her,” said Mishti. “It’s the first time I am exploring a character with various shades including a hint of negative.”
The supporting cast includes veterans Jayaprada, Tamil actor Nasser, Telugu actor Tanikella Bharani, Puneet Issar and Napoleon. Charandeep plays the villain, his first big role.
Koti has scored music. Ramana Salva has handled the camera.
Sharabha was filmed in Kurnool, Mysore and Italy. One scene was shot on top of Mt Blanc, braving sub-zero temperatures and physical distress. The highlight is the climax scene.
“It is a sixteen-minutelong scene involving computer graphics and prosthetic make-up,” said Rao.
Sharabha has been dubbed into Tamil and Hindi as Yaagam. While the Telugu version releases in the UAE today, the other two versions will follow soon.