After enjoying an officer of the Indian Air Pressure in Operation Valentine, actor Varun Tej awaits the theatrical launch of his new Telugu movie Matka, through which he performs a personality impressed by the gambler Ratan Khatri, known as ‘matka king’. “I used to be eager to be part of a movie that has the potential to attraction to a large viewers. I appreciated director Karuna Kumar’s uncooked and rugged narrative model in Palasa 1978 and was desperate to work with him when he narrated a fictional story impressed by the lifetime of Ratan Khatri,” Varun Tej explains with enthusiasm after we meet for this interview at Vyra Entertainments workplace in Hyderabad.
Varun Tej; in a nonetheless from ‘Matka’
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Varun emphasises that Matka, to be launched in a number of languages on November 14, is actually a Telugu movie, staying true to its dwelling language and cultural context. Because the script advanced (Karuna Kumar wrote 13 drafts), Varun was taken in by parts that emerged as a spin-off of happenings in Khatri’s life. “It’s attention-grabbing to understand how Khatri expanded his community and playing unfold throughout India and affected the Indian financial system. We’ve got included just a few occasions pertaining to the Emergency and the demonetisation of excessive denomination financial institution notes (1978). Nevertheless, we weren’t eager on making a biopic.”
The character Vasu portrayed by Varun, is fictional although created alongside the traces of Khatri. Matka traces his journey from his 20s to his 50s, reworking from a teen determined to make ends meet to changing into a power-hungry gambler. “Khatri got here to India in the course of the Partition. The movie is about in Visakhapatnam and Vasu arrives as a refugee from Burma. Later, he narrates the story of his adolescence to his daughter in a fairytale format, referring to his character within the third particular person. I appreciated how Karuna Kumar has written these segments,” says Varun, including that Matka depicts nightclub glitz, crime and the underworld within the port metropolis within the Sixties and 70s, a side that has not usually been explored.
Varun Tej in ‘Matka’
In Varun’s decade-long profession since Mukunda (2014), he has usually chosen movies from various genres and settings — a world conflict backdrop in Kanche, a gangster comedy in Gaddalakonda Ganesh, science fiction journey in Antariksham 9000 KMPH and a boxer within the sports activities drama Ghani. He has additionally been part of romances akin to Tholi Prema and Fidaa and the comedies F2 and F3. “I attempt to do one thing completely different in every movie. Alongside the best way, I’ve additionally realised the necessity to cater to a bigger viewers. Not like my latest movies, I’m assured that Matka’s attraction is not going to be restricted to a sure demographic; there are many moments that may give the audiences a theatrical excessive.”
Marlon Brando-meets-Kamal Haasan AI picture
Within the promos of Matka, just a few glimpses of Varun Tej’s character in his 50s, with silver-streaked hair swept again, are harking back to Kamal Haasan from Nayakan and Marlon Brando from The Godfather. Varun smiles on the point out and says, “The course workforce used prompts to generate photos with the assistance of AI (synthetic intelligence) for the completely different appears to be like I sport within the movie; the picture we obtained for the middle-aged character was a mix of Brando and Kamal sir. These photos have been our preliminary references. We labored on every look to swimsuit a selected age group and decade. Within the youthful part, the hair retains falling on my face and as my character grows older, acquires wealth and is refined, the hair is swept again. At this stage, my character is in tune with trend tendencies and sports activities a tie and pocket sq..”
Varun phrases Matka a ‘massy’ movie however he isn’t taking the straightforward route of a formulaic mainstream entertainer, given the trajectory of his character from 1958 to 1982. “An everyday business movie can also be powerful to drag off,” he explains. “Such movies can work just for star heroes whose persona interprets to the characters they play and their big fan bases have fun them. At present, the audiences need one thing distinctive; we’ve to design a world that fits the story and the feelings should be relatable.” He reveals that by the second draft of Matka, he had a good thought of the place it was headed. “I knew what the director supposed to convey about financial inequality and different points, all in an entertaining format.”
One of many distinct appears to be like sported by Varun Tej in ‘Matka’
Varun discusses how the movie makes an attempt to painting good versus evil, emphasizing he was drawn by the delineation of how a person’s motion is set by starvation. “Somebody who has meals on his desk and oldsters who look after him would possibly decide one other particular person’s act of stealing for starvation as against the law. We could not approve of the theft however we have to perceive the place that particular person comes from.”
Varun asserts that Matka doesn’t have fun Vasu as a superhero. “We present his glamorous aspect as he splurges, however we additionally present the repercussions of his actions. If the movie have been to finish up glorifying him, I’d not have been snug doing it.” He mentions how the character portrayed by Meenakshi Choudhary tries to indicate Vasu the mirror. “Her character, too, comes from a troublesome background however she is content material with what they’ve, whereas he isn’t. That is the place the character differentiation occurs.”
Deliberate to the hilt
Matka concerned intensive pre-production to plan the manufacturing design, cinematography and different technical points. Varun was glad to do intensive script-reading classes with the director. “Karuna Kumar had a 300-page guide with all the main points of pre-production work. Every part was exact, from digicam angles to the kind of lenses used. Cinematographer Kishor Kumar (Thangalaan fame) used anamorphic lenses for the preliminary parts and the digicam actions have been as per the tendencies within the Sixties and 70s. He had deliberate the digicam angles and cuts totally, to make sure that no time was wasted on set. It was related with the opposite departments as properly.”
Matka was filmed in 75 days, of which Varun shot for practically 65 days. He discloses that the movie has greater than 100 scenes versus the norm of 70 to 90 scenes. “I had learn the script a number of instances and analysed Vasu’s behaviour. But, I used to be nervous on day one to see if the director appreciated what I portrayed. Since my character goes by means of 4 levels, I used to be nervous every time I portrayed the character in a special age,” he laughs.
Varun reckons that his earlier movie, Operation Valentine, could not have labored as a result of a number of causes however he prefers placing the previous behind him, exuding confidence in Matka and appears ahead to its reception.
Printed – November 09, 2024 04:33 pm IST
