'Haathi Mere Saathi' shoot was scheduled as per elephant Unni's dates, reveals director

Ardent fans of actor Rana Daggubati are pumped up for release of his upcoming trilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi as it will finally hit big screen on March 26, 2021, after multiple delays. Although Rana is lead actor of  drama film, Unni elephant is busiest of m all, revealed director Prabhu Solomon in a recent interview with Mid-Day. rewned Tamil director said that he and makers had to first take Unni's dates and schedule shooting of film accordingly.

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Prabhu Solomon says Unni is busiest Haathi Mere Saathi cast member

Director Prabhu Solomon, who has worked with Unni, elephant, in past in his 2012 film Kumki and its upcoming sequel Kumki 2, recently revealed how he had to arrange Haathi Mere Saathi's schedule according to elephant's dates. Ahead of film's release next month, Kollywood filmmaker was interviewed by Mid-Day, wherein he spoke about shooting with Unni for third time as he is one of four to five sought-after elephants across country with an Animal Welfare Board of India license. As he has an AWBI license, Unni is busiest of m all as he is taken for ad shoots, film shoots as well as festivals, revealed Solomon. 

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Thus, Vijay Award-winning director said that according to elephant's dates, everyone had to schedule ir dates for Haathi Mere Saathi's shooting. Having worked with him in two films, 51-year-old described Unni as 'intelligent' and 'emotional'. Spilling beans of how he found him, Prabhu Solomon said that he had auditioned Unni after 30 or elephants across Kerela during shoot of Kumki. 

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upcoming trilingual film, that focuses on issue of humans intrusion in elephant corridors, has been filmed in jungles of Kerela. For unversed, also titled Kaadan in Tamil and Aranya in Telugu, Haathi Mere Saathi's unit had to follow stringent protocols while shooting with Unni. According to AWBI's guidelines, makers had to shoot with elephant in soft light in morning while y used to let him rest in afterons and resume shooting in evenings, said Solomon. Last year, Rana had also shared a BTS video with Unni, calling him "most loved cast member" of trilingual film.

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