Kannada director Pradeep Varma heads to Bollywood

Kannada film director Pradeep Varma is gearing up for his Bollywood debut. A glimpse of the same was shared on his social media page, and the poster, which had just two hands reaching out to each other, naturally, generated the curiosity that was expected. The film, The Fallen, has been conceptualised by Pradeep and features a host of Kannada actors like Anupama Gowda and Sathya BG, along with Mayuri Nataraja, Raghava and Bhavani Prakash.
What’s interesting is the fact that the film is set against an apocalyptic setting. “The entire film is being shot at the Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh,” says Pradeep. “Even the weather at the location there, added to the mood of the film perfectly. Though the narrative is woven around an eerie ambience, it still is predominantly about the characters and their journey of survival. The focus lies on their respective relations and evolution through the struggles, rather than the impending doom they are in,” he explains.
Even though the entire cast and crew is from Bengaluru, Pradeep decided to make this film in Hindi, as he feels it is a story that could cater to a bigger audience. “On the one hand, it is a platform to collaborate with different talent and a new genre that I feel everybody can relate to. On the other, while it is risky to be experimenting in an unknown territory, this is a film that is not specific to an audience of one specific language. Working on this could also help us bridge the gap between Bollywood and other regional film industries,” says Pradeep.