Dev is largely based on Karthi's character his journey in the film, says director Rajath Ravishankar

Debutant director Rajath Ravishankar grabbed everyone’s attention with the impressive teaser and trailer of Dev featuring Karthi in the titular role. Both the trailer and teaser look glossy and hints at a feel-good film, which is a rarity in Tamil cinema. “Feel-good films were made by several legendary Tamil filmmakers like Balu Mahendra and Mani Ratnam. They are my inspirations to pen a story like Dev,” says Rajath, who worked with Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap in a few films. “Being a South Indian, adapting to Mumbai was difficult for me so I came back to Chennai to work under filmmakers like R Kannan and Saravanan. I’m also a film institute student,” adds the young director. From the teaser, it’s also evident that Dev has been shot in multiple locations. “Basically, I’m a traveler and in fact, I came to films because this profession would help me to visit many unexplored places. Even while writing the story of Dev, I visited similar locations where I shot later for the film. For example, if there is a scene placed in the backdrop of snow-clad mountain, I visited a similar place and penned the script. But what was difficult in executing a film traveling in various locations is people management. Thankfully, my production team pulled it off with a great ease,” says the director. [caption id=“attachment_6001181” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Actor Karthi in Dev.[/caption] Along with Rajath, Dev’s music composer Harris Jayaraj also traveled to exotic locations to compose music for the film. “Harris Jayaraj sir and I have similar taste, we have the passion to travel and his penchant in buying new vehicles is well known. It was a wonderful experience to compose music in locations where the songs were actually shot later”, explains Rajath. Sharing his experience in meeting Karthi for the first time and getting his nod for Dev, Rajath says “Karthi sir instantly liked the film. Any newcomer will always have that fear to narrate the script to a big hero because we should not miss the opportunity. So I mentally prepared that Karthi sir wouldn’t do the film but at the same time, I should give my best. To my surprise, Karthi sir loved the script and asked me whether he could justify the character written in the script”. Rajath says that as Karthi comes from Mani Ratnam’s school, and he is a delight for any director. “As Karthi sir worked as an assistant director to Mani Ratnam, he works hard for his character. When I narrated the script of Dev, he was shooting for Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru and after that film, he gained 15 kilos for Kadai Kutty Singam. For Dev, he shed his gained weight through rigorous diet and workout to justify the role of a twenty-eight-year-old youngster. Karthi sir also met a lot of youngsters to know their mindset and approach towards life,” says Rajath. When Firstpost interviewed Rakul, she said that her character Dev is strong and very pivotal. “Generally, all Tamil directors would say that they have given strong characters in the film but genuinely Rakul has a powerful role in the film,” exclaims the director who also roped in an ensemble of actors like Ramya Krishnan, Prakash Raj, and Karthik. Talking about the choice of veteran actors in Dev, Rajath says, “There is not even a single scene without Karthi sir in Dev. The entire film is based on him and his journey. But all these big actors are pivotal in that particular point in Dev’s life. Apart from these proven actors, we also have RJ Vignesh and Amrutha who play as Karthi’s friends in the film. Their characters also have important scope in the film”. Rajath says that he has completed the shoot of the film in eighty days. “We shot the film in eighty days. Staring from Mumbai to Chennai we covered the entire western ghats. We also filmed in Hyderabad, Delhi, Manali, and Ukraine”. The director also says that the character Dev resembles him in real life. “Any filmmaker’s work will resemble their real life. The dialogue we write is nothing but our opinion to a particular situation”, he says. Watch the trailer here: