IBBANI TABBIDA ILEYALI, Chandrajith Belliappa’s ode to love has been receiving the kind of feedback after its release on OTT that gives the creator joy as well as frustration. “I wish we had seen it in the theatre!” “We missed a gem,” posted many social media users. Chandrajith prefers to smile and move on.

The journey of Ibbani began nearly a decade ago when Chandrajith wrote a blog on October 3, 2015, titled Dewdrop, sunshine and a blade of grass. The trigger then was nostalgia, for Chandrajith grew up in mist-and-dew-covered Coorg, specifically Madikeri. He felt that the minute one heard or read the word ‘dew’, the mind conjured up imagery and memories rushed in of childhood amid greens. Actor-director-producer Rakshith Shetty was charmed by the blog, and roped in Chandrajith into his writing team The Seven Odds. Later, he bankrolled the film too under his Paramvah Studios.

“I look at nostalgia as some kind of happiness. You can also use that as a scientific tool, because cinema is a bunch of tools you employ to trigger emotions in your audience. I wanted the audience to experience that dew before they sat down to watch the movie,” says Chandrajith.

Chandrajith is that rare director who is willing to acknowledge what aspect of his craft might have misfired, without getting defensive. “As a member of the audience, I know what motivates me to go to the theatre to watch a movie. I have gone through this process of choosing for other movies. So, why should it not happen to me? We did show the movie to focus groups and discussed it among ourselves so we knew what we were putting out. And so, I was mentally prepared to read a bunch of positive reviews once the film hit OTT.”

Chandrajith manages to see something good about this too. “Since it is on pay per view on Amazon Prime, for me, it is like a theatrical release. Many people who missed it in the theatre are hoping to watch it now. And when this film makes money, it will help us make other such films.”

One thing that links small, beautiful films in Kannada is the lack of audience backing. But Chandrajith feels it has more to do with the lack of a cinema-going culture in Karnataka. “Growing up in Kodagu, we had two theatres. Now, there’s only one. And, a new film would release there provided it makes a big noise in centres such as Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mandya.

In the Telugu states, watching a film is a weekly affair, a tradition. In Tamil Nadu, there’s a lot of awareness even about those working behind the scenes. Here, in Karnataka, the culture is slowly growing. When it does, there will be a strong motivation to watch movies.”

While most of the feedback for the film has been positive, some people have issues with the structure and why one of the heroines Radha disappears midway. Does the team acknowledge the feedback? “I always ask for feedback and respect it. Even within Paramvah, we were honest with feedback, but the final call was mine. The director’s vision and choice is paramount. This ensures that the director must not let ego get in the way, and to do the best for the film. It has to stand tall. We edited for eight months, so we had the time to take feedback, assimilate it, and work on it. And, whatever I get from the audience now reflects feedback already received.”

Chandrajith knew Ibbani, if not the entire film, parts of it would definitely connect with people. “I was very curious even as I wrote it as to what would happen next. It was written very organically, and I enjoyed reading what I had written. When I posted it on my blog, so many emailed me that they felt a connect and that a few episodes mimicked real life.”

That said, the director feels the original blog post was more solid than the movie. “I made a few choices that hampered that. Even if 70 per cent of a script lands well on screen, it will hold up,” he says, adding that some choices were conscious. “I wanted to treat the college portions like Bollywood of the 90s. For the final year, I toned down the colours. I framed them how a Mani Ratnam-PC Sreeram combination would. I wanted the present to be shot like a Western holiday romance, remove the colour and keep it stark while retaining some element of nature. This conscious inconsistency helped in some ways, I thought. I wanted to increase the demographic appeal, and so accommodated certain things that were not in the blog. The director in me wanted to shine, hence I added some portions deviating from the source material. But, during the final edit, I removed all those portions that were placed just so that I could feel I was in control.”

But who in their right mind reveals all without holding back? “There is nothing to guard. When you only speak the truth, you feel free and liberated.”

Among the nicer things about the movie is the Kannada spoken by the leads — Vihan Gowda, Ankita Amar and Mayuri Nataraja. They retained the poetry of the spoken language. “It was not a conscious choice to cast only Kannada-speaking actors, but all three of them made the lines theirs. I wrote the dialogues and they caught the melody and rhythm of the dialogues. While workshopping to arrive at the pitch of each character, they displayed an elegance that was endearing,” says the director.

While Sid and Anahita’s bond felt complete, Radha’s (Mayuri) affection felt truncated midway. “I felt her character has a duty, and there’s enough reason to root for her. Her character is accessible. You know what she’s thinking, and so will miss her. Added to it, because of what we are now used to seeing, you expect her to return for a ‘happily ever after’. The situations she was placed in were extreme. And, the tougher the situation, the higher the degree of your empathy towards her. Out of care, the audience wants a certain kind of good ending for her. But, I saw her experience as life-changing for her. She might smile at this in some years.”

Chandrajith also took a risk by writing an emotion-filled love story, and not letting action anywhere near it. “My love is all heart. I still live in the 90s and my cinematic philosophy lies in the 90s. I am very drawn towards platonic love. My takes on love and relationships are the kind you find in old Kannada romantic novels written by Triveni and Radha Devi. I think what you see in the film is my Utopian philosophy towards love. I got lucky that my producer believed in me and helped it find an audience.”

And while the audience still savours the dew-filled world of Ibbani, Chandrajith has finally moved on. He’s working on a mystery thriller he wrote before the COVID-19 pandemic, and on two concepts — a vigilante movie and another like Gopal Varma’s Rangeela.

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