Four Hollywood technicians roped in for 'Veeram'

Filmmaker Jayaraj, who is busy shooting for upcoming trilingual period drama "Veeram", has decided to give the film a Hollywood touch by roping in four technicians who have been part of popular foreign projects.

Set in 13th century Kerala, the film resuscitates the real life character made famous through folklore literature and songs.

Hence, keeping the tone and the content of the period drama in mind, Jayaraj has, for the very first time, brought on board four Hollywood technicians to supervise the action, make-up, music and colouring departments of the film.

Action choreographer Allan Poppleton, who has worked on films such as "300", "Hunger Games" and "Avatar", has been roped in to take care of the action sequences in the movie. Award-winning make-up artist Trefor Proud has also been brought been on board.

"Kalaripayattu has not yet been portrayed in mainstream cinema in its authentic form before. Action director Allan's contribution in coming to India, learning the Kalaripayattu martial art form and improvising the moments to suit the camera angles, has been of great help," Jayaraj said in a statement.

Talking about Proud's contribution, he said: "With his rich experience and understanding of colours that existed in ancient times, Trefor added beautifully in depicting the vivid colours and body paints on each of the characters."

Music and background score of the film is by Hollywood music director Jeff Rona, who has been part of films such as "Phantom", "Traffic" and "Prince of Egypt", while Jeff Olm of "Avengers", "Titanic" and "How to Train Your Dragon" fame is the colourist of the film.

"Jeff Rona and music director Achu together have used their individual expertise and created the music of the ancient era that we can relate to even today. Jeff Olm, as the colour and light supervisor, has been of great advantage to our cinematographer Kumar in maintaining the authenticity of the era," Jayaraj said.

"Veeram", about the infamous warrior Chandu Chekava, stars Kunal Kapoor in the lead. The film is being made in Malayalam, Hindi and English.

--IANS

hp/rb/vt