I can’t believe the fan frenzy that our film A has received even after 25 years: Chandini Saasha

Upendra and Chandini-starrer Kannada film A was released in the theatres after a gap of 25 years, recently. “The film has been running to packed houses. Even though it is a re-release, it has broken all opening day box office records, that too after all these years. I could not believe the fan frenzy until I saw it myself. The love people have for Upendra, and for his story that I consider to be quite different in screenplay and treatment, and of course for me, is something I am so very grateful for,” says Chandini, who was in Bengaluru for some of the screenings.It is probably this very love from the audience that compelled Chandini to work with the film’s producers on a part 2 of this film too. “The Kannada film industry gave me the identity of being an actor and even after having worked in various other languages, I consider myself to be a Kannada actor,” says the actress who has set her mind on doing her bit for the film industry. Excerpts:
‘Audience is drawn to powerful stories, regardless of language’
Today, cinema is not restricted to one set of audience. What we have now is a global audience that watches and accepts good stories, regardless of language. I have been working in the business side of the movie industry for the last many years, as part of distribution of films across the world, and while I see Indian films in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu being spoken about in the international space, I feel this necessity to do my bit to ensure Kannada films are also spoken about there. We have had films like KGF and Kantara, but there hasn’t been much talk after that. I have, therefore, decided to work on a couple of things through which I can do my bit for Kannada cinema. There is a Kannada web series in the pipeline, but I have also started work on a story that could be A part 2, along with the producers. We are also trying to get the same technical team on board for it. We are yet to approach Upendra for this, but from the little I know him I am sure he will love this story.
‘Watching A again brought back some of my first day memories’
I had just come in from New York to act in this film. Upendra had just seen two portfolio pictures of mine until then. When he got to the set on day 1, I recall him coming into this area we were and asked who I was. He could not believe that this small petite person was the one chosen as the heroine. Later, for the shot, the makeup person had done his bit to make me look screen ready, but Upendra did not want me to wear any makeup. Because he thought it was not nice to ask an actress to take off her makeup on day one, he decided to shoot a scene that required me to be seen in makeup. For this scene, I had to go and fall on a coffee table. And before I could even gather up the courage to do that, as soon as the camera was rolling one of the assistant directors pushed me towards the coffee table to help with the scene, and I actually fell. I was shocked and those natural expressions actually worked out for the scene. That shot got okayed in one take and I did not know until then that getting one’s first shot okayed at one take was considered to be a big deal. The rest of the day was spent with another woman pulling my hair out, and with the number of takes that went into that I was in pain. However, it was my mother who was also with me on set who was crying more than me. She could not believe the things I had to endure for this role that day and was set to take me right back to New York. Of course, we did not go back. The team was quite happy with the ‘natural’ performance and Upendra too was convinced finally and quite pleased to have made the right choice of heroine.