Four-time National Award winner Sabu Cyril designed the sets for Lingaa, his second film with Rajnikanth after Enthiran.
“A dam forms an important aspect in Lingaa and I had to create one,” he said.
“When [director] Ravi Kumar talked about the dam for the first time, what immediately came to my mind was a memory from my school days. Living in the tea estates of Valparai, I remember walking to school and watching the construction of a dam. It was an overwhelming sight: the zig-zag scaffolding with a large number of people working and carrying stones and sand. From a distance they appeared like thousands of ants. That memory helped. We also visited the Linganamkki dam of Mysore for a reference.”
The story required the construction of a dam in stages. Since time was short, he built a dam 45ft high and 300ft long, working over three shifts for twenty days. Shooting was done in reverse sequences with the dam being dismantled bit by bit every other day. The second challenge was in creating a train set from the pre-independence days.
“We came up with a steam engine and four bogies, with a first-class compartment. This was set up outside Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. Using computer graphics more bogies were added.”
Cyril’s team also created a palace with opulent interiors for a song sequence and a ship for the Mona Gasolina song.
