HUMAN SKELETONS, DEAD BODIES, BLOOD AND MANY MORE….

The French film Dheepan that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes, as mentioned earlier, has quite a lot of Indian creative minds working for it. We had recently brought you the interview of George Pius of Wide Angle Creations.

There is also art director Prem Navas who had worked so diligently in the film to bring out the right kind of feel through his set designs.

Hailing from Manamadurai and having studied in Siva Gangai, Prem is trained under Sabu Cyril and Selvakumar. He has worked in Moodar Koodam, Malini 22 Palayamkottai, Idhu Namma Aalu and presently working in Kamal’s Thoonga Vanam.

He recounts his experience working in the film

“Working in Dheepan was wonderful. The French team had earlier come here for a recce and we had also interacted with them through Skype to understand their needs. We took them round to locations that would match their requirements. As per that, we had created the sets in Pirappan Valasai, near Rameswaram.

They had wanted a war zone and had an idea but they were not aware of our nativity. We matched that and they were happy about it. While creating the war strife area, they wanted human dead bodies to look real.  We tried using imported rubber which looked very realistic and they were satisfied. Human skeletons, blood, hands and bodies looked so real that people from the neighboring camp came and were moved seeing them.

For the film’s climax which is said to happen in London, we matched a house in Ooty. It was a good experience to create a setting with the backdrop of a middle class London house in Ooty.  They planned to shoot in London. Once we readied this, they shot the scene here.

Initially I was hesitant and was wondering how I was going to interact with a French team. But George Pius of Wide Angle Films helped and supported me”.

Prem Navas is now busy at the sets of Kamal’s Thoonga Vanam, Hyderabad