Upendra: Shooting Kabzaa was challenging, but the output was worth the effort

Kabzaa began, as an idea, four years ago, when Kannada filmmaker R Chandru wanted to collaborate with Upendra yet again, after having done Brahma and I Love You. This time around, though, he was looking at making a hard-core action entertainer and scaling up the production values multi-fold, as he was looking at the film being the next KGF from Sandalwood. Chandru had been spurred into action by reports and comments that he saw and read, which claimed that there could not be another KGF. He wanted to prove them wrong and that is how Kabzaa came to be.

Upendra allocated three years to the making of the film, which were not easy for him, as it meant that he had to make himself available whenever Chandru called him on set. “There’d be times he’d ask me to report in the morning and not have a shot ready until the afternoon. I had to co-operate, simply because of the scale on which he was mounting the project, and there were so many artistes on set. Whatever inconvenience he threw my way, I would ignore and move on, because at the end of the day, he’d come and show me the footage he’d captured and that was so good. He would literally leave me speechless with this showreel,” said Upendra at the Kabzaa press meet in Mumbai today.

Elaborating on the challenges of making a film like Kabzaa, the Real Star said, “This is not a film that we could just head out into the street and begin shooting. Since it is a period subject, everything had to be done on a set, under controlled lights, etc. Shooting this film required a lot of patience.” Kabzaa has Upendra playing an underworld gangster called Arkeshwara, who rules over India. The narrative, though, begins in pre-Independence era and goes on into the 80s, spanning five decades.