They say constraints trigger innovations and this has particularly come true in the case of young filmmaker Jayanth Seege. In response to the prevailing pandemic and the lockdowns, Jayanth Seege. S and his team have conceived an interesting feature project that employs technology to narrate a love story. A first-of-its-kind virtual film in Kannada cinema, the new project has been delightfully titled 'Love in the Time of Covid' and stars young actors Rakesh Maiya and Shruti Prakash, who rekindle their lost romance through social media and modern technology.

Speaking to ETimes about the project in an exclusive chat, Jayanth Seege says: "The film's a romantic-comedy which takes place during the very first lockdown in 2020. Essentially, it's about two college friends who have not kept in touch for many years and find each other on social media during the lockdown - that's how things get rolling. And how they rekindle their passion for one another, whether, or not, the lockdown affects their prospects, and do they end up together in the end - these aspects form the crux of the story".

While Kannada cinema is still new to the concept of a virtual or computer screen film, wherein the characters only interact through devices like phones, tablets, or computers, a few attempts have been made in the past in other languages; not very long ago, Malayalam superstar Fahadh Faasil starred in one such attempt titled 'C U Soon', a direct OTT release. "The founding film in this regard is the American film 'Searching'. At least, that's the film that brought things to the forefront in terms of this technique. While both 'Searching' and 'C U Soon' employ the same concept, I feel the general approach here tends towards the crime/thriller genre - and that's where we wanted to be different. I think I was attempting a similar film subconsciously but was never happy with whatever I wrote. And that's when dawned on me that we could make this as a rom-com and just that. It liberates you because not only is it a fresh perspective but also expands the genre a little," says Jayanth Seege about his film.

The flipside to the virtual film is that it also carries the risk of making things overly verbose and this could be quite apparent in a romantic-comedy especially. However, Jayanth instills more faith by saying that the story of 'Love in the time of Covid' works regardless of the technique as it comprises the same character and narrative tropes of any rom-com, and as a result, there won't be a single dull moment in the film. "The main story is between the two lead characters but there is another sub-plot, per se, that takes place in parallel. There are as many as nine different characters in the film, with each having its own arc and importance in the story," adds Jayanth.

With almost 90% of the project already completed (shot over only 11 days), Jayanth and his team plan on wrapping up production as soon as the lockdown restrictions clear out. 'Love in the Time of Covid' has been produced by Jamuna Seege S with Pradeep B Reddy handling the cinematography and editing & VFX carried out by JFx by Vijay. The film has utilized the services of three different music composers - Bharath B.J., Pranava Karanth, and Sanjeevini Shastry - while Bharath B.J. has also scored the background music. Apart from Rakesh Maiya and Shruti Prakash, actors Apoorva Bharadwaj. Goutham H C, Kiran Vati, Shankar Murthy, Shravan Narayan, Sunetra Pandit, and Pavan Venugopal make up the principal cast.

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