Meet the racers who got Panchatantra rally ready

Over the past two weeks, the team of director Yogaraj Bhat’s next, Panchatantra, has been busy canning a pivotal sequence in the film – a car race that forms the central part of the narrative and leads to the climax. The sequence involves the film’s lead cast, including Vihan Gowda, Sonal Monteiro, Akshara Gowda, Deepak Shetty and Rangayana Raghu.
Going by the images that the team has released, it is abundantly clear that a lot of effort has gone into making everything look as authentic as possible.As it turns out, Yogaraj and gang had some professional help to deal with it. Bengaluru-based racers Monish Muniraju, and Chandan Gowda, both of whom have been competing at Indian National Rallies six times a year for a while and manufacture rally cars, have been permanent fixtures on the set the past few days.
“Monish and I have been building rally cars and driving professionally for close to a decade. Hariprasad Jayanna from the film team had heard of us and seen some of our driving videos online and reached out to us for help in conceptualising the sequence along with stunt master Jolly Bastian. We were impressed by their desire to create a realistic rally. We had several discussions with the stunt choreographer and even modified several props to give the sequence a professional touch,” says Chandan.
From helping with location scouting, to getting the look of the cars, the actors’ outfits and gear, including helmets, gloves, etc., just right, the duo has been involved in every nitty-gritty of the rally scene. Not only that, Chandan and Monish are even in the film, albeit as stunt doubles for the lead actors. “The sequence involves a race between Vihan and Rangayana Raghu. While Vihan has shot for some of the driving scenes himself, I fill in for the more skill-based shots. Similarly, in the car with Rangayana Raghu, actor Bala Rajawadi is in the driver’s seat, for whom Monish does the stunt double work. Before the shoot, we got some time with the actors, during which we trained them about basic aspects of driving a rally car,” adds Chandan.