A nonetheless from ‘Naatu Naatu’; Ramji Natarajan
Loved making reels of ‘Naatu Naatu’ from Rajamouli’s RRR? Loved the hook steps by Jr NTR and Ram Charan and the way in which this peppy quantity was shot?
The song that the whole world celebrated this 12 months – ‘Naatu Naatu’ – was really filmed on the Mariinskyi Palace, the official residence of the President of Ukraine, when the pandemic held the world in its grip, with international locations imposing lockdowns and journey restrictions.
Director SS Rajamouli, composer Keeravani and choreographer Prem Rakshit may be the boys related to this superhit monitor, however its filming wouldn’t have been doable with out ‘Location’ Ramji Natarajan. A widely known location advisor to the movie trade, Chennai-based Ramji – with over 30 years of expertise – was the particular person entrusted with the duty of discovering a super location to shoot this now-iconic song.
“This was the second time Rajamouli was trying to create India outside India,” recalled Ramji, throughout a current lecture organised by the Chennai International Centre on the Madras School of Economics, “We had earlier recreated the Himalayas at Bulgaria for Baahubali. And now, for RRR, we had to re-create a British ball happening in the Delhi of the 1920s elsewhere!”
Ramji Natarajan with director SS Rajamouli
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Special Arrangement
It wasn’t simple, as a result of the makers not solely wished a location that would slot in with the funds, but additionally one to which they may journey to in the course of the peak of the pandemic. “We couldn’t film in England, because it was closed for travel. We had to locate a common country to film this song, and zeroed in on Ukraine.” Thankfully, the RRR forged had US visas, and the principles then permitted journey via Frankfurt. Recalled Ramji, “The Bombay airport was so eerie; there was just one flight taking off.”
The group had to take eight COVID-19 checks at numerous levels throughout their journey. They had scouted for 3 places however the one Rajamouli gave a go-ahead for occurred to be the Mariinskyi Palace, the official residence of the President of Ukraine. “Luckily, during my previous travels to Kiev, I happened to be acquainted with its Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, who is actually a former heavyweight boxing champion. He promised to help us, and thankfully, there were no official visits to President Zelenskyy during that window of 15 days that we had to shoot.”
Though permissions have been executed, Rajamouli was nonetheless not glad, and handed over a wish-list to Ramji. He wished 100 skilled dancers, which Ramji organised via the Kyiv Ballet. “He also wanted 100 Indian extras to act as car drivers and bearers, which was going to be a challenge to organise. Then, I suddenly remembered that I had met a few Indians at the airport, who were actually medical students from Tamil Nadu, and called one of them.”
Rajinikanth and Ramji on the units of ‘Enthiran’
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Special Arrangement
In a couple of hours, 300 Indians confirmed up, wanting to star in Rajamouli’s function. “Being a stickler for detail, he (Rajamouli) also wanted 20 vintage cars, a grand piano weighing more than a ton and a 50-piece orchestra, for which we roped in members of the Kyiv Philharmonic. “All of them turned up in their coattails and tuxedos and looked grand,” recollects Ramji.
Things fell in place shortly for ‘Naatu Naatu’, which had greater than 500 folks on the units, and one other 500 for back-up, together with manufacturing and catering. “Rajamouli himself commented that he wouldn’t have gotten this level of perfection even if he had shot this for a month in India. Obviously, while filming, we had no idea that it would go on to fetch world acclaim and win an Oscar,” says Ramji, who has additionally labored carefully with administrators Shankar (Rajinikanth’s Enthiran and Vikram’s I), Atlee (Vijay’s Mersal), Rohit Shetty, amongst others, and can be one of many pioneers in taking movie crews to Switzerland for shoots. “I have 17 passport books and have travelled to over 140 countries in the course of my work. My experience is my biggest asset.”