Rajaram Rajendran's film Rani Rani Rani will premiere at DWSaff in Dallas and NYCSaff in New York this October

Bengaluru-based ad director’s debut sci-fi feature film will have its world premiere at two international film festivals in the US
A still from Rani Rani Rani
A still from Rani Rani Rani

He’s a film director whose used to working with a structure, timetable and making videos that are a maximum of two minutes long. So this time Rajaram Rajendran, founder of production company Eleven Elements, wanted to explore different aspects of filmmaking and decided to make an indie sci-fi film in English and Hindi. The result is Rani Rani Rani, which will make its world premiere at the DWSaff in Dallas, and NYCSaff in New York in October. Starring Tannishtha Chatterjee, late Asif Basra, Danny Sura, Alex O’Nell and Abid Anwar, the 90-minute film was shot in a span of 10 days in Dandeli. 

Rajendran says, “It’s a small-budget time travel film. We don’t see too many movies in this category. It’s not a film that is humorous, has action, sad scenes or happy endings, like the ones we are used to. It’s a rare genre when it comes to feature films.” 

In terms of casting the actors, he says that Chatterjee was quite thrilled when he pitched the project to her. “She’s the kind of actor we see in most Hindi films, we know her by face but not by name. Basra is also another actor who is known for his work. I wanted actors like them to be a part of the project to make an impact,” he says. 

While there is an audience for sci-fi films in India, Rajendran feels that it’s only niche. “Very few projects like these are made by Indian creators even though there’s much to explore in this genre. There is definitely an audience, the numbers are small,” he adds. 

The team hopes to fly to the US soon for the premiere of the film without having to deal with too many travel restrictions. “Our production house mostly works on advertisements. It’s so much more organised because you have a looming deadline. Everything is planned out and shot within a few days,” he says, adding, “But when it comes to feature films, the timeline can tend to blur out.

You have to wait for that perfect lighting, the day’s weather and other set of things that can change your schedule. Honestly, everyone is quite surprised that we pulled off the film within 10 days of shooting.” Now that the film is ready to be released on foreign shores, Rajendran hopes to start working on other long-feature formats as well. “For now, we are just excited to present our film at the film festivals,” he says.

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