Srinidhi Bengaluru broke into Kannada cinema as a young filmmaker with Blink (2024), a time-travel sci-fi piece that, despite a small opening, progressively landed on its feet through overwhelmingly positive word of mouth.
More than two years later, he is back with Video, an experimental Kannada horror that reunites him with Blink actor Dheekshith Shetty, this time with Shetty stepping in as a producer. The grit that has sustained their collaboration remains unchanged, as do the struggles that have shaped their journey.
In most industries, a debut team might start from humble beginnings, but their second film is invariably bigger in terms of scale and production. But that isn't overwhelmingly the case with Kannada cinema, observes Shetty in an interview with THR India. "Here, it takes three to four years to mount a second film, even after proving yourself with the first film," he says. "We proved it with Blink." Shetty, who jumped aboard to produce it after listening to the narration, recalls feeling an instant connection.
"Srinidhi and I have known each other for the past 12-13 years, ever since our days in theatre. So when he told me he was looking for a few investors to produce the film, I decided to do it myself. With every film I do, the intent is to defy genres, so I said I'd produce it," says Shetty, who is also known for his turns in Telugu cinema, with titles such as Dasara and The Girlfriend.
But the process came with its own set of challenges for Shetty, who had yet to conquer the beast that is production. "When we start a project like this, we don't have cash in hand," he confesses.
The only solution was to put the entirety of his acting remunerations towards financing the film. "I have to go to the set of my other film, finish my shoot, get a sum from there, and then give it to the Video team. If my shoot gets cancelled there, the shoot here (Video) would be called off! Things were so interconnected." (smiles)
The filming, too, demanded a different approach and work ethic. Srinidhi and team shot the film in Bangalore, Chikmagalur, Mysore, and Odisha to capture the sprawling and sometimes intimate moments of dread through the DJI Osmo, Insta360, GoPros, and spy glasses.
It wasn't a regular film to shoot, reminds Srinidhi, expanding on filming in tight interiors such as the car which takes the on their dangerous expedition. "The lensing was a little challenging. We kept changing lenses according to the depth and the spot we got for shoot." The idea was to build on the ethos of the found-footage genre, with one key variation: swapping analogue cameras for digital ones.
While tight rehearsals kept things in check, the team also had to navigate the decision of reshooting key portions of the film. Shetty was of immeasurable support for the young team during this process, the filmmaker adds. "If we wanted three cameras, he'd ask me to get five and make it better. We got this kind of support for an independently-backed experimental film. Traditional producers hardly listen to these kinds of stories. That's the issue."
With Video being Shetty's first production, there were a lot of lessons to be learnt. "I don't have a big production team. It's just me and my friend Bharath Sagar doing this together," he says. "If big production houses backed subjects like Video, the reach would have been very different today. But I've done my best."
Shetty also admits to breaking into his savings reserved to buy a house to make this a reality. "This wasn't a very calculated move. It was a creative decision, not a business one. The idea was to support unconventional cinema with new faces."
The challenges persisted, following them all the way to distribution. The night before the release on September 11, the film had limited screens. But the film's scrappy promotional methods fetched them about 100 screens by Saturday. "At one point, I started questioning why I'm doing this. But I immediately stopped. If someone like me who has been in the industry for 13 years can have such doubts, what would new producers think?"