Are star combinations the only solution to ring cash registers?

With the boom of male newcomers on the one side, producers trying out remakes is also not ringing the cash registers. The combination of two stars or combination of a star director and actor is the formula slowly opening up Kannada cinema today.

Sometime ago the Malayalam Harikrishna, starring the two superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal with Juhi Chawla, also had two climax scenes shot, one for the Mammootty fans and one for Mohanlal fans. And this brought an encouraging response in the market.

When all formulas in comedy, love, sentiments and action fail, the producers are left with inevitable choice to club the two stars to come out with a bang.

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This is happening now in Kannada. The combination of Ravichandran and Shivrajkumar in Kodandarama, Shivrajkumar and Jaggesh in Jodi, Shivrajkumar and Ramesh in Ninne Preethisuve, Upendra and Prabhudeva for a wider market in H2O, Ravichandran and his brother Ishwar in Preethsona Baa, Upendra and star-director D Rajendra Babu in Ninagyake, Upendra and yet another star-director Nagathihalli Chandrasekhar in Superstar, Upendra and ace director Sunilkumar Desai in an untitled film, Vishnuvardhan and proved director S Narayan in Jamindraru, Vishnuvardhan and Sunilkumar Desai in Parva, Shivrajkumar and Lisa Ray in Yuvaraja, combination of Ramesh, S Narayan and Mohan in SV Rajendra Singh Babu’s Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu, BC Patil and CP Yogishwar in Shivappanayaka, Saikumar, Meena and Prema in Gramadevathe, Suman, Ramyakrishna, Prema and Charulatha in Neelambhari and around a dozen films in the queue yet to decide on the combination indicate that the instable market in Kannada is heading for a new change.

While the first half of 2001 was a surprise package as all the newcomers in Nanna Preethiya Hudugi, Chitra and Huchcha, succeeded the lack of great strength might be the reason for industry to take a new turn. The big names of big screen are counting a lot on small screen too. Anant Nag, Hamsalekha, Chindodi Bangaresh, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, Ambika, Sharat Babu, and a lot of other prominent names in big screen are doing television. Time may come when the voice over of top stars like Dr Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Anant Nag and Ambarish can make magic at the box office.

—Vashitha