Physics graduate turns poster designer for 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'

Bengaluru: Born in Kottanellur, a small village in Thrissur, Kerala, Anoop Regupathi took the conventional route of studying physics as it was his parents' desire that he should pursue a degree in science. But, his heart and soul was always in art since sketching was his only hobby and was easily drawn towards it. Today he has turned a successful poster designer and he is proud to be a part of 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect,' a pan-India film starring Madhavan.

The journey started when he decided to come to Bengaluru in 2005 and turned his passion into a profession. "I went to Bengaluru in 2005 to meet both ends and began my profession as a graphic designer in small firms. I made time to communicate with some of the film fraternities, and I met an ace Malayali director, Shajoon Kariyal through social media, who later offered me the chance to work as a title designer in one of his production movies, Salt Mango Tree," says Anoop Regupathi.

Although uncertainty was a part of his journey, he never gave importance to it as he would be on cloud nine whenever he received projects. "I've designed several titles and posters, but those movies either didn't exist or I was unlucky enough to get them. I was ecstatic whenever someone asked me to design something, and my entire thoughts revolved around it, from then onwards. I didn't even consider whether the film would be made or not," he adds.

Miracles and manifestations do exist if you want to achieve something. "I'm not sure if it was my long-held ambition to work on a major production outside the Malayalam film industry. As a new bud in this field, it was out of the question. 'And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it'," he quotes Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist).

Then came a golden opportunity to design the poster of Rocketry: The Nambi Effect. "This entry was recommended to me by my friend Bijith Bala, who is the editor of Rocketry. I casually enquired about a chance in the title and poster design. He then instructed me to come up with something, but he wasn't sure and couldn't guarantee the result, but the greatest part was when he gave me Maddy sir's ( R. Madhavan) contact details," he explains.

"On the day I initially contacted Maddy sir, I was so excited and he was cool and friendly. During his hectic schedule, he would provide me with immediate feedback. He is a wonderful human being who is down to earth. I felt quite at ease with him, and I was extremely proud of myself for eventually cracking the title design, which was very similar to his thoughts. I had the good fortune to meet him (Maddy sir) in his Mumbai office and spend some quality time with him. I was also fortunate enough to design the logo for his production house named 'Tricolour Films'," he expresses.

The concept of the poster coincided with the tagline of the movie. "I was content enough to design the title of this Magnum. I didn't even think about the part of poster designing, but I still dreamed of it. I was thinking of designing a conceptual poster, all my thoughts were focused on this and I came up with an idea straight away. The plot of the film revolves around Shri Nambi Narayanan's life and when the scandal (Which was proved as a fabricated one later) occurred, the entire country was engulfed in the controversy. So I reasoned, should I produce a poster with India on fire, and it just so happened that the film's tagline, 'sometimes a man wronged… is a nation wronged', coincided with it. I was so pleased to see the final product and much more apprehensive to show it to Maddy sir because I had no idea what he would think. When I finally presented the concept to him, he was impressed and excited at the same time when he ensured that he would give me all of his poster designing projects. That was a really exciting moment," he exclaims. Another poster was based on the concept of identity where he wanted to connect Nambi's face with a thumbprint. "A human being's biggest identity is his or her thumbprint. In the thumbprint, I wanted to integrate Nambi's face and create a burning impression. My first concept was where Nambi's identity had been shattered as a result of the incident. The other poster has a concept of Rocket Nozzle. I wanted the people to watch the map of India on earth through the nozzle and I've added a burning fire effect to complement it," he concludes.