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Soundarya
turns producer with Dweepa
Soundarya, the
top actress of South India, has selected the six-time Swarna Kamal
award-winning director Girish Kasaravalli for her debut bilingual
film Dweepa as a producer. Being made in Kannada and English,
the film mounted the sets at a rainy place in Sagar, Shimoga district
of Karnataka recently. The location was selected after two months
of intense search by the director who has been waiting for the rainy
season for a long time to shoot the film. There is a backwater of
Sharavathi at the actual shooting spot of Bellanne village. It is
a splendid location with rich greenery and Western Ghats and mountains
in the surroundings. Art director Shashidhar Adapa has erected a
typical Dakshin Kannada village house here made out of grass. "It
was a challenge for me with the nature," recalled Adapa after
working for fifteen days on the sets.
 The
film would be a visual treat. The story revolves around a family
that is on the verge of submersion but represents the region says
the director. Besides this, there is a highlight on the people and
its culture. As submersion becomes inevitable, at the same time,
culture and tradition too take key prominence. The protagonist in
the film Soundarya fights against all odds in life to retain the
rich cultural beauty.
Actress Soundarya
is producing this film as a tribute to her late father Sathanarayana
under the banner of Sathya Movie Makers. "I want to produce
quality films and this has been my long standing ambition. I figure
in this film as a tribal woman," says Soundarya.
At the muhurat
of this film, Na. D’souza, the story writer of the film, sounded
the clapper board while Soundarya’s mother Manjula Sathyanarayana
switched on the camera as cameraman H.M. Ramachandra switched on
the camera. Issac Thomas is the background music director. The film
does not consist of any songs. Jayanth Kaikini has penned the dialogues
and Vyshali Kasaravalli is the costume designer. Girish Kasaravalli,
besides directing the film, has also written the screenplay.
Avinash, M.V.
Vasudeva Rao (national award winner for his role in Chomana Dudi)
and Harish Raj are also in the cast. For the English version, Sitharam
will do the role played by Vasudeva Rao in Kannada. Rest of the
cast remains the same for the English version.
Ravichandran’s
brother makes debut
 V.
Ravichandran is fulfilling his long-standing ambition of introducing
his brother Ishwar alias Balaji into Kannada films in Ekangi. The
muhurat of this film was held on August 15 at Kanteerava Studio.
The highlight of this Ravichandran-directed film is the erection
of a Rs. 75 lakh set by art director Ashok from Kerala. With such
a huge investment, Ravichandran has asked the owners of Kanteerava
studio to retain the sets and return any investment derived out
of it by lending it to other producers. He is also playing cameo
role in the film.
States Cinema changes hands
States, the
four-decade old theatre at Kempegowda Road, Bangalore, has now gone
into the custody of two senior producers of Kannada cinema, K Manju
and KCN Kumar for the next two years. They have taken it on lease
from its owner T Nanjunda Shetty on the behest of superstar Vishnuvardhan.
Manju and Kumar
have decided to make it a model theatre in Bangalore. They intend
to increasing the value of the theatre by installing state of the
art sound and projection facilities and introduce a proper upkeep
of toilets. They have decided not to charge parking fees from patrons.
Two years later,
owner T Nanjunda Shetty intends to raze the structure and convert
it into a multiplex bearing the same name. This will be the first
multiplex theatre coming up in state.
Nagarahavu: Rockline Venkatesh’s next
 With
a title like Nagarahavu, Rockline Venkatesh, producer of Kannada
cinema, has increased the hype and hoopla. Starring Upendra and
Jyotika, the film is likely to include sizzling Shilpa Shetty in
a key role. This is a remake of the Hindi blockbuster Baazigar.
The songs portion for this film would be shot in Jordon.
The Vishnuvardhan-starrer
Nagarahavu made about 30 years ago is still fresh in the minds of
the audience of Karnataka. By picking the same title, Rockline Venkatesh
has sent a sudden shock in the industry.
Meanwhile the
producer has started work on the remake of the Malayalam film Darling
Darling in Kannada with Sivrajkumar and Jaggesh in the lead. For
this film, the producer Rockline has replaced director Dinesh Baboo
as he occupied with the Kannada version of Usha Kiron Movies Nuvve
Kavali. Thus the new directr is Kishore Sarja, brother of actor
Arjun. Rockline Venkatesh is going to New Zealand to can three songs
and some talkie portion for this film in the first week of October.
Kurigalu
Saar Kurigalu celebrates 100 days
 The
100-day celebration of the Kannada hit film Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu
was a major event for the noted director S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu
as he completes 25 years in the industry.
S.V. Rajendra
Singh Babu, in his inaugural speech, went down the memory lane.
He recollected his father, the late Shanker Singh’s contribution
to Kannada cinema and promised to take the industry to Hollywood
in his forthcoming ventures. "In my 25th year in Kannada cinema,
my directorial venture Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (KSK) ran for 125
days and my debut film Nagarahole was a silver jubilee film. The
coincidence is that the same theatre Santosh that showed my debut
film for 25 weeks, 25 years ago has screened KSK in my 25th year,"
stated the director with pride adding, "Soon I plan to make
a very different Kannada film, one that has never been made in the
history of Indian cinema yet. Think cinema, eat cinema and sleep
in cinema is the normal statement. But I will die here as well.
I plan to work for the next 25 years and make 25 good films,"
promised Rajendra Singh Babu.
Music director
Hamsalekha admitted that Ravichandran will remain his Yajaman always.
He wanted Ravichandran to make a film like Lagaan in Kannada and
also asked Rajendra Singh Babu to make a film on Mahatma Gandhi.
While Ravichandran
expressed his gratitude towards Hamsalekha, he also wished that
the next venture of Rajendra Singh Babu titled Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu
would be a hit like KSK.
As actor Ramesh rendered a short poem of Dundiraj, the audience
in the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall burst into laughter.
Mass
marriage to be held
Producer K.V.
Nageshkumar of Gramadevathe and Ramprasad, the owner of Ashwini
Digital Audio, have jointly announced that they would conduct the
marriage of 51 couples in Bangalore on the audio release day of
the film. It is for the first time that such a concept has been
arrived at by a producer and owner of an audio house in the history
of Kannada films.
At a press
meet in Bangalore recently, the producer announced that the ten
relatives of a pair would be admitted at the wedding. The sacred
mangalasutra, garlands and pair of new clothes would be given to
the newly weds besides feeding them with spicy Holige lunch. Interested
people from any religion with no bar on caste and from any corner
of the country could write to K.V. Nageshkumar, Sri Balaji Films,
III Floor, Casino Building, II Cross, Gandhinagar, Bangalore-560009
or D. Ramprasad, Ashwini Digital Studio, 1902 Ajaikrupa, 11th Cross,
RPC Layout, Vijayanagar, Bangalore-560040 or Sai Prakash, Director,
Prashanthi Niketana, 43, 2nd Main, Gangadhar Layout, Vijayanagar,
Bangalore-560040 as soon as possible.
The audio release
of Gramadevathe would be released on that day at the marriage hall
in the presence of the star cast of the film as well as emiment
persons from the Kannada film industry.
Charanraj in a double role
Action hero
Charanraj plays a double role, that of the father and son in S.
Umesh’s Kannada film Annayya Thammayya. The muhurat for this
film was held recently at Ulsoor Someshara Temple in Bangalore.
K.V. Gangadhar Achar, an agriculturist from Mulbagal Taluk who lost
Rs.15 lakhs on his first venture Roshagni is appearing with a new
name as Gautam and playing the second fiddle. He hs lost all hopes
of his first venture getting released. Jayanthi, Shruthi and Anu
Prabhakar are also in the cast.
Speaking to
media persons after the muhurat, director S. Umesh disclosed that
this film has the shades of films like Thumbida Mane and Thavarina
Thottilu. He has been waiting for Charanraj for the last five years
with the subject which is finally materialising now. The sentiments,
comedy and action are packed in this film, he informed. Directors
of Kannada films, S. Narayan, S. Mahender and S. Umesh have penned
the five songs for the film.
The shooting
began in the actual villages of Srirangapatna and its surroundings.
—Vashistha
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