Brahma, The Creator of Rattanpur

Brahma, The Creator of Rattanpur

After a series of turns in the muddled lanes of Jubilee Hills, there is a dead-ended, muddied road which lead you to old, deserted 'Bhoot Bungalow' with barren land where Pawan Kalyan's Sardaar Gabbar Singh is predominantly shot in a specially erected set - Rattanpur town. The set features an elaborate railway track, an overhead water tank, market including Govindram hair saloon, Dhaba, Kirana shop, Scrap shop, Post office, Library, a group of houses and what not!? Art director Brahma Kadali is the creator of this Rattanpur set.

Ever wondered what kinda toil that gets in building huge set like Rattanpur in star-studded film like Sardaar?

After much deliberation and considering several aspects like how many scenes would be shot, where the scenes begin and from which way characters enter, a miniature of Rattanpur set was made by Brahma Kadali taking inputs from Pawan Kalyan who provided story, screenplay for Sardaar.  After making few corrections, the final miniature was made. Once the miniature was ready, the creative team went onto hunt for an ideal location with less greenery so that sky is clearly visible. That's how they finally zeroed in on the land besides Bhoot Bungalow. Once the place is finalized, the miniature is brought to the location and discussed again on how the set looks like.
Nearly 350 truckloads of soil was dumped on to the site initially to level the ground. At least 300 to 500 people worked day and night for 45 days to erect the set of Rattanpur which is considered as one of the fastest built sets. Though the art direction team was given a time of 70 days, the team managed to make it in just 45 days. One of the biggest challenges for the art director is to bring total fresh look to the location given that Gabbar Singh was shot earlier in the same location. 

RATTANPUR : Absolutely Authentic

The total set is built such that Govindram Saloon and Police Station as its centerpiece. From the signal lights to the railway gate to the railway track and goods bogey with supporting platform, each and everything on the set looks absolutely authentic. The platform is built properly to position the goods bogey. With slightly western touch, the set is built keeping the Indian nativity intact.The Rattanpur set costed approximately Rs 5 Crore.

 SGS is shot in Rattanpur set in around 40 working days. Major portions, including climax and Kalyan's introduction song in the film, are shot in the set.

Eco-friendly Set for Sardaar GabbarSingh !

Eco-friendly Set for Sardaar GabbarSingh !

Empathizing with the ecologists, the makers of Pawan Kalyan's Sardaar Gabbar Singh have come up with an environment-friendly set for the film. The village set of Rattanpur, which plays a pivotal role in the film, is built without causing any damage to natural resources in the locality. 

Writer-actor Pawan Kalyan who himself is a great tree lover and environmentalist, insisted not to cut any tree, plant or even a branch. This indeed was a big challenge for art director Brahma Kadali. "Not a single tree or a branch is cut to erect the massive set of Rattanpur. The existing trees and plants have been retained without causing any damage and these trees have become part of Rattanpur's landscape," shares art director Brahma Kadali who earlier worked for Gabbar Singh as well. Around 350-odd trucks of soil is dumped into the land to level the surface. Despite this, the makers of SGS ensured trees are unaffected.

Pawan Kalyan, shares a special bonding with Rattanpur set. Even after the shoot is completed for the day, Pawan likes to spend within the set for at least two hours. That's the kinda bond he share with the Rattanpur set. And so producer Sharrath Marar and the whole cast, crew who love to pass the time on the set after the shoot. This is not all.

Mega Star Chiranjeevi, Director Trivikram Srinivas, Art Director Thota Tharani are few of the luminaries who visited the sets of Rattanpur. "Usually, it's hard-to-please Thota Tharani garu. Unless it's something special, it doesn't impress him. As soon as he walked into Rattanpur set, he liked it. After through examination, he appreciated me. This compliment I'd cherish for the rest of my life," says delighted Brahma Kadali. He adds that Mega Star Chiranjeevi, Director Trivikram too fell in love with the set of Rattanpur.

Billed to be an out and out entertainer laced with right doses of action and romance, the principal shooting of Sardaar GabbarSingh is predominantly shot in Rattanpur set.

Govindram Saloon Turns Pawan's Meeting Place

Govindram Saloon Turns Pawan's Meeting Place

Mangal Govindram Hair Saloon in Rattanpur town is the resting stop for Pawan Kalyan where he unwinds himself between the shots. The place is also the meeting point for Pawan and the unit of Sardaar Gabbar Singh where all the creative team assemble there after the shoot and discuss plan of action for the next day. Be it chatting with team during breaks or having luncheons with guests or calling for impromptu meetings on work with director Bobby, fight masters Ram-Lakshman, Govindram saloon is the hub of rendezvous.

Sardaar's gang Ali, Narra Srinivas, Brahmaji spend quality time in the saloon after wrap up of shoot. This is not all. Pawan never receded into the comfort of getting into his caravan but he chose to be on the sets even after finishing his shooting part. At times, Pawan used to change his dress in the saloon and rushed to shooting spot. He always preferred to be on the sets and made sure the atmosphere on the sets is amicable.

Taking time out of his busy schedule, Pawan occasionally rides around entire Rattanpur set on his bike to check on how things were moving in different parts of the massive layout as there were almost two units shooting at any point of time. Pawan's hard work and perseverance caught everyone's attention and inspired many on the sets of Sardaar GabbarSingh.

Sardaar GabbarSingh has an Animated Storyboard

Sardaar GabbarSingh Telugu Movie has a Motion Storyboard.

Remember Pawan Kalyan's most popular one-liner - 'Nenu Trend Follow Avanu...Trend Set Chestha' (I don't follow a trend, I set the trend) When Power Star Pawan Kalyan mouthed this dialogue in his trademark style in Gabbar Singh, fans went berserk seeing their favorite matinee idol onscreen. Proving that he's not just a man of words, but a man of actions, Pawan Kalyan set new precedent with Sardaar GabbarSingh as the makers prepared an animated storyboard prior to the commencement of film shooting. Having an animated storyboard is rare and probably a new initiative in Telugu Cinema.

The advantage of this animated storyboard is that the whole duration of scene would be known in advance even before it's shot. This brings clarity to the makers on what would be the total length of the scene onscreen and how the scene is going to look like. Naturally, this comes in handy for the director, cinematographer & creative team to plan well without any duplication of work and thus helping production house in big way so that a lot of time, money are saved.

Stoyrboard artist TSS Kumar, who worked closely with Pawan Kalyan for over three and a half years on Sardaar, understood Pawan's brief and evolved storyboards throughout the film. Also known as motion storyboard,  it's developed for few significant fight sequences and songs in Sardaar which is usually unheard of down the regional cinema. What's more? The animated storyboards in Sardaar are mostly made in colour format. This gives the feel of watching the film even before it gone onto floors.

While developing the principal characters, Pawan Kalyan drew few rough sketches of them how they should look. At times, Pawan Kalyan also sketched the scenes. With this, he showcased his artistic prowess and his involvement in the project right from the film's inception. All in all, this shows how Sardaar GabbarSingh is very dear to his heart.

A Sneak Peek into Rattanpur

A Sneak Peek into Rattanpur 

Far from the hustle and bustle of city life, the story of Sardaar Gabbar Singh is set against a rural backdrop in a fictitious place called Rattanpur. Once subsidiary of princely state, Rattanpur is situated in the borders of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Since the town was part of Hindi provenance, the people of Rattanpur are familiar with Hindi and their jargon has mix of both Hindi and Telugu.

With a sizeable population of 5000 to 10000 people, Rattanpur's bucolic milieu is what sets it apart from the rest. Its landscape is wide and varied. From royal palaces to silica, quartz mines to mountain terrain to cavalry barracks to finest horse breeding centre, Rattanpur is most happening place. The town of Rattanpur has four entries. While one major entry being through the Rattanpur Railway Crossings, the other three are the grand arches that open into four streets. Sardaar (Pawan Kalyan) stays in the street of Rattanpur police station which is major landmark in the town. Just to name a few, the other major spots in the town are Govindram Saloon, Dhaba, horse breeding centre, temple, Rajput Rifles shop, Library, Rattanpur Post Office, Hotel Moonlight, Scrap Shop, Horse Saddle Shop.

Rattanpur has a great significance in the story of Sardaar Gabbar Singh. As the film's plot is weaved around the town, the film is predominantly shot in it. The major characters of Rattanpur have crude and grey shades and most of the characters are unpolished. In Sardaar Gabar Singh, one could find genuine depiction of town life. Be it their dressing or culture, everything stands out in the film. Though it's a small town, the fashion element hasn't given up. Costume designer Rajesh ensures each character has its own fashion statement. 

And colours, designs of costumes of cast have been fixed much before the film gone onto the floors. An earth colour palette is chosen as the base and the makers make sure only the colours from the palette are used for the characters and background. Veering towards the town's climate, Rattanpur has tropical climate which makes it hot and humid. It has many agricultural fields. The staple food of people here is wheat, jowar, maize and rice. The major livelihood of people is horse breeding. Hosting a Marathwada horse fair is part of their culture.

Writer-actor Pawan Kalyan, Producer Sharrath Marar, Director K.S Ravindranath (Bobby), Cinematographers Arthur Wilson and Andrew, Creative head Harish Pai, Art Director Brahma Kadali, Computer Graphics' Bhanu, Storyboard artiste TSS Kumar and whole creative team of Sardaar have many restless days, nights in envisaging how people, places and things of Rattanpur look. The team has done an extensive research and meticulously designed each and every minute detail related to Rattanpur making it an engaging place to look out for.