Exclusive! Karm Chawla on directing 10: 'I knew I had to take a break from cinematography after Avane Srimannarayana'

For Karm Chawla, directing a film was never a fanciful aspiration but a creative respite from cinematography. His repertoire, as the latter, boasts many noteworthy and successful titles such as Ulidavaru Kandanthe, Kirik Party, and Avane Srimannarayana but, by his own admission, storytelling was always on his radar and it was only a matter of time before he took the plunge. 

The journey since then has been a testing one, to say the least, and yet, Karm is ardently looking forward to his debut directorial. The film, a gripping & intimate drama titled 10 which is centred on a national-level boxer, releases on December 16 in theatres - OTTplay caught up with the cinematographer-turned-director ahead of the release to discuss his approach to making a sports drama, working with a young lead actor like Vinay Rajkumar, and much more. Here are excerpts:

Your film has been stored away for quite some time but the release announcement came out of the blue, in a way. Are you happy that it's out finally? Or a little concerned that it could have come out under better circumstances? What is your headspace like at the moment?

We shot the film and finished the entire post-production about a year and a half ago but there is an obvious delay because of a production hang-up and a few other factors which we could discuss later. As far as the upcoming release is concerned, I would have definitely preferred about a month of preparation to promote the film but at the same time, when we had set off to make this film, we knew very well that it's a low-key, small-budget outing. And in the same vein, even if the producers aren't keen on spending any money on promoting the film, I know that 10 will work through word-of-mouth publicity because there's an audience out there that would want to watch a film of this kind.

Does a delay of this kind make you feel detached from your film?

No, certainly not. In fact, I am looking forward to the release of the film. Beyond all these hangups and delays, the journey we all have had with this film is wonderful and when you recall all those moments spent together making it, you can't help but be excited. More than anything else, I am looking forward to watching the film with my team and reliving those times.

Now let's talk about 10. When did you decide to direct a film? And why did you want to tell the story of a boxer?

I come from a theatre background wherein I have directed and acted in a lot of plays. This is 2007-08 I speak of and I had actually moved to Mumbai to pursue theatre further but for some reason, I also felt the need to pick up a technical skill. And that's how cinematography happened and fortunately, or unfortunately, I had work coming my way consistently so I got stuck in the field. But I knew all along that I would want to direct someday and this desire became more and more intense while we shooting Avane Srimannarayana. We shot for close to 200 days and it was a taxing experience where it drained us out - I felt that I must distance myself a little from cinematography, at least for a while, before I started to get bored and finicky. That's when I made the call that I will direct a film.

And why did you pick the story of a boxer for your first film?

A close friend of mine was a National level boxer and I have seen many of his fights live. I think it was during these visits that I felt the urge to make a sports movie someday because nothing connects us all better than a sport. I have had the script with me for about 10-12 years, of course, it has gone through a lot of changes over the years but since I knew Vinay [Rajkumar] quite well and he too has always been keen on trying something new, the film came to be eventually. I did talk to him about the ethos of the film, though, and explained to him that 10 will not be a fancy sports film with a lot of money at our disposal and the fact that I conceived it in a more indie style with a small crew. I wanted the film to offer an intimate experience so it was important that we approached it that way as a team.

When it comes to films about boxing, one immediately thinks of films like Raging Bull, Rocky, and so on... Did you have these films as references while making 10?

You know, if you look closely, all sports dramas have a similar setup, the milieu is more or less the same but what makes the difference is how you put each element together for the narrative. So, when I set off to make 10, I did not want to be "different" just for the sake of it. We all knew what I wanted, we knew what the story was about and that's how we took it as we went on making the film - instead of consciously or subconsciously worrying whether or not we were imitating an old film, we just worried about making our film and nothing else.

And being a cinematographer, did you try and give your film a different visual treatment compared to the usual sports dramas that we get to see?

We were very clear about a couple of things right from the start. Most importantly, we didn't want it to look larger than life. It had to be about an average guy whom you might have come across in your daily life and the whole experience had to be intimate and very real. So, visually, the idea was to not use the tripod - barring 3 or 4 tripod shots, everything in 10 is shot handheld. There was no room for dolly or tracking shots either. We shot entirely at real locations and did not use any additional lighting because the idea was to not disturb the natural environment of those places. Visually, I did not want it to look like a spectacle because you want to create a level of intimacy through reality so that the viewer can relate to the character a lot better.

About creating the world of a boxer - from Vinay Rajkumar's prep to researching the sport - can you take us through how you put it all together?

Vinay's journey, especially, was gruelling for the most obvious reasons. He worked with a trainer called Ismail and through him, he was able to get into shape and understand boxing properly - this must have taken him 6-7 months easily. When you see him on the screen, there is no pretence and from his stance as a boxer, his physicality to his overall demeanour, we wanted it all to look authentic. He lost about 35 kilos for the part and also gain muscle at the same time to look like a boxer. 

And as far as the world of boxing is concerned, we had many real-life boxers in our midst and they often had stories to share. We had them on set when we were shooting for the boxing matches in the film so that they could supervise. In fact, and you will not believe that when I say it, there is no action director as part of the film because I did not want the boxing matches to look choreographed. The actual matches tend to get mundane and you don't find 3000 people in the crowd waving flags or hooting - boxing isn't that big a sport in India and the matches, even at the national level, are quite low-key. I wanted things to look as they are in reality and for that, we had to work with people who are part of the system; a lot of the fights in the film are single takes so Vinay and the other fighters are actually landing punches on one another. The impact of those punches was a little controlled but the characters are part of an actual fight without a doubt.

Now to talk about your upcoming projects as a cinematographer - you were one of the most sought-after in the industry with hits like Kirik Party, Avane Srimannarayana, etc. but then the break happened because of 10. Are you now interested in working on more films? Make a "comeback", so to speak...

Even after I took the break to direct 10, I have been quite busy as a cinematographer. I ended up doing two Telugu films in a span of one year - there's a film called Pakka Commercial which came out on Netflix and I am working on another Telugu project, as we speak. So, I haven't been away from cinematography at all. At the same time, I am pitching small projects to Amazon to direct because I would like to strike some kind of balance between the two crafts so that I don't exhaust myself. Also, I am not someone who has set a benchmark or a target for myself so I will take it as it comes and that's pretty much it. I have always been particular about a balance between films and life - I like the 4-5 month break every year so that I can spend time with my family, my kids are young, so I don't want to miss out on all that. Alongside, if I am able to work on one nice project a year, I am pretty much sorted.

10 stars Vinay Rajkumar, Anusha Ranganath, and Gopalkrishna Deshpande with Karm Chawla co-writing the film with Chandrajith Belliappa and Anirudh Mahesh. Gagan Bedariya scores the music with Karm handling cinematography and Balshankar Menon serving as the editor. Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah produces the film.