Clap, the upcoming Tamil-Telugu sports film starring actor Aadhi Pinisetty, wrapped up its shoot on Tuesday. Aadhi, who plays a 400 metres sprint runner in the film, told Silverscreen India that despite Covid-19-related interruptions in the shoot, he had trained hard for his role. He also said that Clap was a “beautiful emotional” film that only Ilayaraja could have composed for.
Aadhi will star alongside female leads Aakansha Singh and Krisha Kurup. The film also features Prakash Raj, Nasser, Mime Gopi, and Munishkanth in pivotal roles.
Directed by Prithvi Aditya, Clap is based on a 400 metres race. In a telephonic conversation with Silverscreen India, Aadhi talked about how he prepared for the role. He said, “The athletics part, I have never done anything like this before. I had to train along with athletes for almost two months. I trained under Melvin who was a national athlete.”
Speaking about how much his understanding of running had grown, he said, “It was really good because when you go into any subject in detail, you learn so many interesting facts. In the 400 metres sprint, the mindset and approach is unique. It is nothing like that of a marathon. Initially, the runners don’t use up all their energy. They conserve some of it, and then in the last 200 and 150 metres is where they push through.”
He said, “It’s the detail – their posture or the way they place their fingers when the ‘on your mark, get set, go’ is called, all these should be done the way a proper athlete would do it. Otherwise it will be just be someone trying to look like one.”
Handling the shooting interruption due to the pandemic was not easy. Aadhi said, “Athletes have a lean body and it is not a normal gym workout. The Covid-19 times were harsh because we started the shoot before Covid-19 broke out, and then there was a break of six months in-between. I had gained some weight which I lost once shooting began again. I hope it is reflected onscreen.”
Aadhi said that Clap director Prithvi Aditya had done a lot of research on the sport, which made his work as an actor much easier.
Speaking to Silverscreen India Prithvi Aditya said, “Aadhi sir plays the role of a 400-metre athlete in the story. The crux of the story is about the events that occur in his life as a sportsman. Clap focuses on politics in sports, the hardships and responsibilities faced by an athlete’s family members, and the hard work that goes behind someone becoming an inspirational sportsman. It is a film that compares the 400-metres race and life.”
The director also said the film was now in post-production, though the release date had not yet been finalised. He said, “We are in the process of making the decision keeping in mind that the film has to be released both in Tamil and Telugu on the same day.”
The film’s music will be composed by Ilayaraja.
Aadhi said, “Clap is a very emotional film with beautiful human emotions involved. Who else can give us a better background score than Ilayaraja sir? He is very organic and the film needs somebody who is very organic. It needs something that is not synthetic but pure music, because that is what the film is about.”
He added, “I have grown up listening to his songs and still do. He is a 100 percent value addition to the film.”
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“So far the composition of four songs are completed and there are two more to go,” said Prithvi. He said it had been “a great pleasure working with Ilayaraja.” Further, “Music is an important part of the film. Ever since the scripting stage, the film has had an emotional drive. And to handle such sequences, I could not think of anyone better than Ilayaraja sir. Once the dubbing is over, we will start with the background score. It is exciting.”
Clap is produced by IB Karthikeyan of Big Print Pictures and co-produced by P Prabha Prem, Manoj, and Harsha. The film’s cinematography is by Praveen Kumar, and Ragul is handling the editing. The art director of Clap is Vairabalan.
Clap will have a theatrical release, the film’s publicity manager Rekha told Silverscreen India.