Producer-director Rajni Acharya who had earlier created a big stir with his widely talked about filmography Dastan E Rafi is now ready with his next lifeography film SUR SHABDANU SARNAMU on the famous lyricist cum music composer Padmashri Avinash Vyas, who has worked a lot on films in Gujarati as well as Hindi and is known as the Hazarika of Gujarat.
Rajni Acharya reiterates that he decided to come up with lifeography of Avinash Vyas in the first place, as when he was doing the lifeography of Mohammad Rafi, the late Umar Kolsawala suggested that he make a film on Avinash Vyas and introduced him to his son Gaurang Vyas, who co-operated a lot with him in the making of this film on his illustrious father. Says Rajni, “I feel fortunate that I got the opportunity to make a lifeography on Avinashji for whom many singers like Geeta Dutt, Lataji, Asha Bhonsle, Rafi, Manna De, Mahendra Kapoor, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Usha Mangeshkar”.
Rajni Acharya says that he lays a lot of emphasis on music. “Dastan E Rafi was my flagship. The film fetched me a lot of exposure as over two crores of people have watched it and it is a big achievement for me. In India, music is in every one’s blood and hence you cannot do anything without music. My film Dastan E Rafi was a big success story. A meeting was held with Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar at Bhavan’s when the programme Aa Maas Na Geet was on after Gaurangji took the initiative and I embarked on the job of making lifeography on Avinashji, who was a neighbour of Ashaji.”
Asked why he calls his film a lifeography and not a documentary, Rajni asserts that his film is not just a documentary. “There is a very thin line between a documentary and a lifeography. My lifeography will also have subtitles in English because I have done the interviews in Gujarati and Hindi. It is a two-hour long documentation though it is not an anchor based programme. I have made a small attempt to show Avinashji’s life from his birth to his demise.
“Avinashji had composed over 1200 songs in Hindi as well as Gujarati films including Dekh Tere Sansar Ki Haalat, Tere Dwar Khada Ek Jogi etc. My film is 80% documentary and I have taken 20% liberty of adding songs to make my film interesting as well as entertaining. Though Avinashji has come up with many folk songs and is known as the Hazarika of Gujarat, unfortunately he did not get the due national recognition for his potential. Vinay Patel is the co-director and editor, and Prakash Karlekar is the cameraman of my film, a Takshila Multimedia Production.
Rajnibhai signs off, “There is no buyer for lifeographies. It cost me over 25 lakhs of rupees to make the film because it has taken almost four years to make. I am not comfortable if an OTT platform asks me to share the revenue, but I was lucky that Shemaroo came forward to release on ShemarooMe OTT Platform, DTH, Digital Media,in India and International market. Our lifeography film “SUR SHABDANU SARNAMU” on Padmshri Avinash Vyas will be released on 8 November 2024.”
