Charlie Chaplin to be presented as a prominent character in Kiranraj’s 777 Charlie

Express News Service

Rakshit Shetty and the team are overwhelmed with the responses to the trailer of 777 Charlie, which has received over 30 million views across all languages. 

Director Kiranraj’s much-anticipated film, which is slated for a June 10 release, is billed as a visually appealing drama. While the film revolves around Dharma (Rakshit) and his dog, named Charlie, Kiranraj reveals another interesting aspect that went behind naming the film.

“I’m a die-hard fan of Charlie Chaplin, and it is by watching his movies that I understood that cinema is all about visual appeal. I have experimented with this in my previous work, a 12-minute short film, Kabbina Halu (2012), and a segment titled, Sagara Sangama for an anthology, Katha Sangama. Both shorts were conveyed without dialogues,” he says.

“Being a fanboy of Charlie, I made sure to bring his name and presence in my picture,” says Kiranraj, who also spoke about the importance of the number 777. “According to Indian numerology 7 symbolises love, friendship, and bonding. In the West, the number 777 has an angelic touch to it. There are seven wonders in the world. Likewise, there are 7 amazing moments of Charlie in the film. Moreover, it is universal, and my lucky number too. So that’s how the name 777 Charlie came about,” he says.  

Incidentally, along with Dharma, Charlie, and the rest of the cast, the director has brought the presence of Charlie Chaplin as a character throughout the film. “The presence of Charlie Chaplin will be either in the form of props or on TV, or in the form of a dialogue, and the character will travel with Dharma from beginning to end,” says Kiranraj who shares a design of Charlie Chaplin that is used in the film. “Dharma is a factory employee, who is in charge of welding design. He uses his experience to design a structure of Charlie Chaplin.” 

Director Kiranraj has also used the very famous speech of Charlie Chaplin from The Great Dictator in 777 Charlie. “The GreatDictator was the only film where Charlie Chaplin had dialogues. And the speech where Chaplin imitates Hitler has been used in our film, and it will be one of the best scenes in 777 Charlie. I’m confident that this particular portion will create goosebumps amongst the audience,” he says.

“Forty per cent of our film has no dialogues. Even though there are situations where we could have Rakshit deliver dialogues, we have opted to just go with visuals. Even if the audience watches 777 Charlie on mute, the visuals of the film will still be conveyed with emotions,” he says.