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

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

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Prabhu Solomon says Unni is the busiest Haathi Mere Saathi cast member

Director Prabhu Solomon, who has worked with Unni, the elephant, in the 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 the elephant's dates. Ahead of the film's release next month, the Kollywood filmmaker was interviewed by Mid-Day, wherein he spoke about shooting with Unni for the third time as he is one of the four to five sought-after elephants across the country with an Animal Welfare Board of India license. As he has an AWBI license, Unni is the busiest of them all as he is taken for ad shoots, film shoots as well as festivals, revealed Solomon. 

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

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The upcoming trilingual film, that focuses on the issue of humans intrusion in elephant corridors, has been filmed in the jungles of Kerela. For the 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, the makers had to shoot with the elephant in soft light in the morning while they used to let him rest in the afternoons and resume shooting in the evenings, said Solomon. Last year, Rana had also shared a BTS video with Unni, calling him the "most loved cast member" of the trilingual film.

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