A few weeks ago, director Onirban and his trusted cinematographer Arvind Kannabiran were in the city, scouting for locations to shoot the short film Abhimanyu.

“At 25 minutes run time, Abhimanyu will be shot entirely in Bangalore,” Onirban had said then. Though some of his preferred shooting locations didn’t work out, the film-maker was soon back with his cast and crew, filming across the city over five days.

“We first shot at a house in Koramangala for a very important sequence in the film. As the film deals with child abuse, it was imperative that the central character returns to his roots and confronts people about what happened in his childhood. So, we had Sanjay Suri, who plays Abhimanyu, come back to his childhood home with a pal (played by Radhika Apte) to speak to his mother (Shernaz Patel) about his childhood,” explains Onir.

These events in his formative years make Abhimanyu non-committal in relationships, explains Sanjay. “Abhimanyu witnesses several traumatic events in his childhood, even losing people close to him, and that eventually makes his approach ambiguous towards relationships,” he elaborates. Hence the significance of the little black kitten in the Koramangala shoot. “The cat is a big symbol in the film, the idea being that Abhimanyu is like a cat who likes attention, but has no concept of loyalty,” explains Onir.

As the settings changed between Indiranagar, Kanakapura Road and Brigade Road, director Anurag Kashyap, actors Rahul Bose and Pooja Gandhi joined the action. “I play Jai, a techie from Bangalore and an old pal of Abhimanyu and my scenes in the film are about a chance meeting with a friend and the lingering remnants of attraction between us,” says Rahul, whose character also plays a central role in a subsequent short-film to be made — Omar.

Credits: timesofindia