Actor Naseeruddin Shah’s appearance on the upcoming Hindi feature film ‘The Blueberry Hunt’ is different than any other look so far portrayed in Indian cinema by any hero. Naseeruddin Shah appears with lengthy dread-locks sporting a gun. His character is a reclusive stranger whose real identity is unknown, who lives with his large German Shepherd named KUTTAPPAN in his remote estate in Vagamon, Kerala. When asked he gives a name which is hard to trace like “NARASIMHA GUJRAL”. The film centers around the final five days where his plantation of valuable high potency marijuana variant called “Blueberry Skunk” gets ready for harvest and his life turns upside down.
The dread-locks look of the character was suggested by Naseeruddin Shah himself to the Writer/Director Anup Kurian. Mr Kurian says “I was not really sure when he floated this idea, but then I told myself, if there is one actor who can pull this off it will be Naseeruddin Shah”. The dread-locks were designed and conceived by the well known hair designer Sapna Bhavnani. Naseeruddin Shah’s preparation for this character was meticulous. His toned physique and physical agility came handy to do the numerous action sequences in the film. There is a scene where he jumps from the top of a thirty feet rock to an assassin. While planning the jump, the South Indian stunt Master Thyagarajan commented…”the only other actor whom I worked with who would have done this jump himself will be Shivaji Ganeshan”.
There are other scenes in the film which involves jumping into ice cold water of a mountain stream and shoot outs in the jungle. All done without any dupe or external help as the norm in film industry. Another highlight of The Blueberry Hunt are the dramatic scenes between Naseeruddin Shah and his student at film school, the young actress Aahana Kumra. The Teacher-Student relationship transcends into explosive dramatic moments as performers in silver screen. The Blueberry Hunt also introduces famous fashion designer Sarah Eapen as the stylist, the popular Nagaland music group Cultural Vibrants, the lyricist Murali Bandaru, music director Dheena Dhayalan, and the Hindi debut of popular Marathi playback singer Kirti Killedar. The film will hit the screens on April 8.
