Chekka Chivantha Vaanam Crimson Red Sky (trans)
2018

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam Crimson Red Sky (trans)

The film revolves around three brothers—Varadan (Arvind Swamy), Thyagu (Arun Vijay), and Ethi (Simbu), sons of gangster and businessman, Senapathi  (Prakash Raj). The movie involves a power struggle between the three brothers to take their father’s title.

Locations in Europe: Serbia
Storyline
  • Star(s): Arvind Swamy, Jyothika, Prakash Raj, Vijay Sethupathy, Arjun Vijay, Simbu, Dayana Erappa
    Songs/Dance/ Action Sequences: Shot in Serbia.
    Indian/ International Crew: Indian and international.
    Language: Tamil
    Line Producer/Executive Producer Executive Producer: Siva Ananth; Line Producers: K. Chinnadurai, Alek Conic, Mini Purushot
    Director/ Producer Director: Mani Ratnam, Producer: A Subaskaran


    Film Location Analysis

    By Veena Hariharan

    Ethi, Senapathi’s youngest son,  is based out of Serbia, where he runs the latter’s Eastern European weapons empire. This is the ostensible reason for the scenes involving Ethi to be set in Serbia. Ethi divides his time living intensely, running his empire, or pursuing the love of his life Chaaya, played by model-turned actor, Dayana Erappa. Two crucial scenes set in Serbia are the pastoral romance with Chaaya that culminates in a wedding, and the chase sequence in which Ethi chases the killer of his newly-wed wife—a murder made poignant because of the romantic prelude that we have been privy to. 

    The chase sequence begins when the unsuspecting couple engage in a lovers’ tiff. Chaaya demands a reaffirmation of their love which Ethi impatiently does, his back turned away from her. Dressed in a smoky purple shirt, Chaaya walks up to the window, and reaches out to open it. Secretly pleased with this reaffirmation, she lights a cigarette as the bright day lights up her face evenly. This tranquillity is destroyed in the next second, as first the sound and then the following gunshot make Ethi jolt around to see his new wife lying on the floor, covered in fatal bullet wounds. As he looks around, shocked, scanning the horizon for the possible source, the camera cuts to a window blind opening and shutting, and the back of a sniper in the opposite building. The chase begins with a tilt-down shot of the Clock Tower where the camera closes up on the unique time-telling (hour hand is longer than the minutes hand), and we see an Asian man, the sniper, making his escape on a motorbike. As Ethi runs across the steps on foot, he intercepts the sniper and chases him through the alleyways and open streets of Novi Sad—the old arcades lined with streetside stores, mannequins, kiosks, and eateries. The chase continues through the Theatre Square, where banners of the latest productions flutter in the air. The sniper is thrown off his bike when Ethi shoots at him, and then confronts him while posters of LoveFest (Novi Sad is the seat of Serbia’s cultural life) are seen in the background. The chase continues through the square, and its alleys lined with graffiti and posters. They leap through outdoor cafes, breaking a few tables and chairs along the way, and finally end up inside a cafe covered in black and white squares, shot from a top angle. Here, Chaaya’s killer is finally beaten to death by Ethi before he can get information on who sent the killer there, as sounds of police vans break in on the dramatic (western) classical music score that overlays this scene.

    Additional Information & Links

    Promo videos:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2q5w-ThJeE

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuq83Ir9tEQ 

    Tourism

    The film spawned a wave of film tourism to Eastern Europe as Georgia, Serbia, and Bulgaria became new hot destinations for filmmakers. Incentives such as visa-on-arrival made it easy for the average Indian tourist to hop over to Eastern Europe while vacationing in Europe.

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