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Tapori
complete in 39 days
 “After
four years, there is kush in our house,” says Hamsalekha, the
much-acclaimed music director of Kannada cinema as the shooting
of the film Tapori (wayward) starring his son is complete. “Writer-director
B Suresh has done what I was not able to do. In fact, there is so
much similarity between us. My film Suggi with my son Alankar is
ready but in the cold storage while B Suresh’s directorial
venture Kuhu Kuhu too is in the cold storage,” says Hamsalekha.
Hamsalekha,
who is making his comeback with Tapori after his bypass surgery,
has given some heart-warming songs to pep up the youth.
Some days back,
the entire team of Tapori, except actress Prema, gathered along
with the media at the Contractors Club adjacent to Fun World. The
occasion was the completion of the shooting of the film in 39 days.
According to
Hamsalekha, the last four years were traumatic as Suggi got shelved
with nearly Rs 2 crores in the cans. He suffered a heart attack
and was admitted to Workhart Hospital on Cunningham Road. “Like
everyone, even B Suresh calls me guru. I too consider him as my
shishya as he has managed to remove the dark cloud surrounding my
family. Now finally all my problems have come to an end.”
B Suresh, who
is known for Sadhane, the mega television serial on Doordarshan,
Bangalore, says, “We have not approached the media for any
publicity so far. We believe in doing our work first. Now that the
film is complete we have invited the media. But even without any
publicity, the film has already made news in the market.”
Actor Alankar
is a happy man too. He has worked hard and is trying to live up
to the expectations of his famous father. He says even his mother
and grandmother are very happy for him. Mother Latha Hamsalekha
feels relieved that finally her son has made it.
Majestic doing well
In just a 25-day
run all over Karnataka, Kannada film Majestic has had a surprise
collection. It is running at more than ten theatres in Karnataka.
“This
is because of the fine distribution done by Suresh Gowda,”
say the producer-duo of Bama Harish and Ramamurthy at a get-together
held in Bangalore. “We are not here to make money. For that
we have our construction business. And with our debut production
itself, we have achieved 75 percent success on the 25th day run.
We want to help the needy. The Kannada version has been sold to
Sridhar of Telugu films for which we have been promised a fancy
amount. The collection in Mangalore too has been superb while in
Bangalore and other areas, also it is extremely good,” says
Ramamurthy.
“We want
to install an audio system for a temple besides helping at least
ten people to settle in life. A few people working in our construction
business will get a new lease of life from the profits of Majestic
and we must say that all this has been possible only because of
producer-distributor Suresh Gowdaru. Had he not helped us distribute
the film, we would have not have been in this position today,”
say the producers adding that they are currently working on a next
script which would be different from Majestic. “The subject
of love and sentiments is our target,” they promise.
Producer
turns actor, composer is director
While producer-distributor
Muralikrishna makes his debut as the hero, music composer Mrs Srishaila
will be making her debut as the director of a yet-to-be titled Kannada
film.
Srishaila has also penned the screenplay of the film. The song recording
of the film commenced at the Ashwin Digital Recording Studio recently.
Sriranga, V Manohar, Srichandru and Nagendraprasad have penned the
songs. Shivadwaj, Ruchita Prasad, Dwarakish, Jayalakshmi, Sadhu
Kokila, Padmini, Nandini, Tennis Krishna, Honnavalli Krishna, Master
Kishen, Master Kiran and a newcomer from Mumbai form the cast. Sundanat
Suvarna is the cinematographer.
KANFIDA honours Mahesh Bhatt, Priyadarshan
 The
Kannada Film Directors Association (KANFIDA) recently honoured director
Mahesh Bhatt of Hindi films and Priyadarshan of Malayalam films
at its 17th and 18th annual awards distribution function at the
Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in Bangalore. The special honour for Bhatt
and Priyadarshan included a Mysore Peta, a shawl and a trophy. Karnataka
Chief Minister SM Krishna, Karnataka Information Minister Shivanna
and noted poet KS Nissar Ahmed were the chief guests at the function
held on March 14.
In his speech,
CM SM Krishna asked SV Rajendra Singh Babu, President, KANFIDA,
to make a blue print ready for meeting the demands of the Film city
as well as a colony for film people. However, he did not react to
making Bangalore as the film capital of the country.
 In
a speech filled with caution and compactness, noted poet KS Nissar
Ahmed asked the Karnataka government to withdraw all facilities
on remake films in Kannada. He appealed to producers to give up
making films purely for business purposes. If it is only business
then it cannot be called ‘art’, he cautioned.
After accepting
the honour, Mahesh Bhatt recalled his days at the West Anjeneya
Temple Street in Bangalore 21 years ago and how he got the impetus
from Prof UG Krishnamurthy. “It was UG who told me that I had
a great future ahead and ignited me. I believe that it is passion
which is important to be a success in the film industry. The Kannada
film industry is daring to stand shoulder to shoulder today with
Hindi cinema. It has the chances of becoming an entertainment capital.
It is only when dreams die that you are no more too. Think big.
It is only these type of podiums that bring the nation together.
I shall go from here with good memories,” stated Bhatt.
In his brief
speech, director Priyadarshan recalled his visit to Bangalore for
the Miss World Pageant. “I feel thrilled and happy to receive
this honour.” Yet he was not too sure as to why he deserved
this honour. He said he had not seen such a felicitation in his
life with so many big people on the dais.
Rajendra Singh Babu recalled the ‘Super star’ title that
was bestowed on the Karnataka CM and added that he is a ‘Mega
Star’ today because he is the country’s best Chief Minister.
Babu made an appeal to the Chief Minister to withdraw all the facilities
given to remake films. He added that from next year one more award,
for the best journalist, will be given away by KANFIDA. MV Revanna
Siddaiah has come forward to institute this award.
Top actresses
like B Sarojadevi, Soundarya, Vinayaprasad, BV Radha, Girija Lokesh,
actor Sudeep, KCN Chandrasekhar, president, South Indian Film Chamber
of Commerce, Tallam N Nanjunda Shetty, president, Karnataka Film
Chamber of Commerce, producers Sa Ra Govindu, SA Chinne Gowda, Rehman,
Thyagaraj and others were present at the function.
Rekha quits films
After a two
year stint and four Kannada films of which three were hits, talented
Kannada actress Rekha has bid adieu to films. She now plans to complete
her Business Management this year and then move on to Indian Police
Service (IPS) to become another Kiran Bedi. A famous athlete before
coming to films, Rekha is also a staunch participant in environment
movements in the state.
Rekha, who
shot to fame with her debut film Sunilkumar Desai’s Sparsha
which ran for 100 days, did films like Baanallu Neene Bhuviyallu
Neene, Parva and Majestic, feels she has had enough of films. She
is in her early twenties.
At the party
held for Majestic, Rekha disclosed that quitting film was her own
decision and thanked the Kannada film industry for showing great
care and affection towards her. Hero Sudeep, superstar Vishnuvardhan,
producer-director-actor S Narayan and Darshan Togudeepa were the
people who played important roles in Rekha’s films. At a time
when the Kannada film industry is in a great dearth of local talents,
Rekha’s deisio to quit has come as a great surprise.
Karnad’s play adapted into a Hindi film
 Acclaimed
art director of Kannada cinema, Shashidhar Adapa, has been chosen
to head the art department for the Hindi version of the film based
on Gnanapeeth award winner Girish Karnad’s stage play Agni
Mattu Male (Fire and Rain). The film will star Amitabh Bachchan,
Jackie Shroff, Raveena Tandon, Sonali Kulkarni and Milind Soman.
The famous
stage play Agni Mattu Male is staged in English as Fire and Rain.
The Kannada version of the play was staged on March 18 at Abimanch
Rangamandir in New Delhi as part of the fourth Bharat Manotsav -
the all India drama festival organised by the National School of
Drama.
Basavalingaiah
alias Basu, director of Agni Mattu Male, was in the camp of Rangayana
theatre group as the chief from 1989 to 1994 and from 1994 to 1996.
He excelled in plays such as Dyavanur’s Kusumabale, Vol Soyikumar
Road, Sriranga’s Prapanchapravana, Chaugale’s Gandhi vs
Gandhi and Girish Karnad’s Tippuvina Kanasugalu. He took part
in a month-long workshop at Abhinaya Tharanga theatre group in Bangalore
headed by AS Murthy and gave a new dimension to Karnad’s play
Agni Mattu Male.
1 2 3 audio released
The audio cassette
of 1 2 3, a trilingual film being made in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu
by brothers Prabhudeva, Raju and Prasad with Jyothika in the lead
was released recently in a spectacular style at Koramangala Indoor
Stadium. A local troupe performed some chilling dances but the three
brothers disappointed the large crowd by not dancing on stage. Former
Chief Minister of Karnataka, S Bangarappa and father of Madhu Bangarappa,
proprietor of Akash Audio that organised the audio release and has
taken up the distribution of the film for the first time, released
the audio album while Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff released the
CDs of the Kannada version of 1 2 3.
Mugur Sundaram,
veteran dance director of over 1000 films in Indian languages films,
was honoured by S Bangarappa.
Vashistha
Photos: KM Veeresh
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