KANNADA:

Preethiyallirosukha
Comedian turns director

COMEDIAN-cum-TV artiste Sihikahi Chandru is making his debut as a film director with the newly-launched Preethiyallirosukha. Recently, songs for this romantic comedy were recorded at Prasad Studios. Many film personalities graced the occasion and wished the new director well. All six songs in the film have been written and composed by Hamsalekha. The film went on the floor on December 4, and will be completed in a single schedule.
Being made under the banner of Gururaya Cine Vision, and produced by Narasimha Murthy, the film has story by director Chandru, screenplay and dialogue by Surendranath and cinematography by VK Kannan, and stars Ramesh, Ruchita Prasad, Tara, Mukhyamanthri Chandru, Mandya Ramesh and Y Vijaya.

Drona
Vasu directs Jaggesh, Monika

DRONA, produced by Chandana Suresh, Parimala Jaggesh, JG Krishna and Ramesh under the banner of Royal Films was launched on November 29 at Devayya Park, Bangalore. While distributor Sanjay Desai sounded the first clap, Anand of Prasanna-Parimala Films switched on the camera. This film is likely to be completed in a single schedule. Directed by H Vasu, it has cinematography by JG Krishna, lyrics and music by Hamsalekha and action by KD Venkatesh, and stars Jaggesh, Monika Bedi, Reshma, Avinash, Sudhir, Sobhraj, Harish Roy and Bank Janardhan in key roles.

Chandradodaya
A schedule in Delhi

PRODUCER Sandesh Nagaraj's latest remake of the Tamil hit, Mouna Ragam, for which four songs were shot at Mysore and its vicinity, is now being canned in New Delhi.
Shiv Rajkumar plays a guest role in the film starring Ramesh and Prema in the lead roles. Vinaya Prasad, Doddanna, Tara, Shivaram and Avinash are also in the cast.
Directed by S Mahender for Sandesh Enterprises, the ffilm is co-produced by S Satish Swamy. Hamsalekha has scored the music for his own lyrics. Krishnakumar is the cinematographer and BA Madhu has penned the dialogue.

Hats Off India
Coming up: a feel-good movie!

PRODUCED by Nandakumar of America America fame, this film has been caught up in controversy from the very start, especially since the title is registered in English. Recently, a song of 12 minutes' duration was recorded at Akash Audio by music director Hamsalekha. Hamsalekha said every line of the film has the refrain, "Hats off India."
The winner of the Kannada Rajyotsava Award this year, Nandakumar is jointly producing the film with B Jagannath under the banner of Vishpriya. The film is now being canned at Mangalore. Ramnath, who has was assistant director to Upendra in A, makes his debut as director.
Surendranath Suvarna is the cameraman and Madan and Harini are the choreographers. Newcomers Ganesh and Asritha play lead roles in the film which also stars Brahmanandam, Nasser, Janardhan, Shivaram, Kashi, O Manju, YK Muddukrishna, Goturi and Shanthamma.

Sum Sumne Nagthaie
Charan Raj, Shilpa teamed

AFTER the pooja at Sri Chamundeswari Temple, the unit of the film shifted to Gokula, Mysore, to shoot a few crucial scenes. Charan Raj, Shilpa, Aravind, Shobraj, Venkatesh, Ashalatha and Krishne Gowda participated in a weeklong shoot. A schedule at Ooty is to follow. The title of the film has been derived from the popular song in Upendra's superhit, A.

Produced by Nisarga Nagaraj for the banner of Nisarga, the film is being directed by B Shankar, and has cinematography by PKH Das and lyrics and music by Hamsalekha.

Ghayal in Kannada

PRODUCER Dhanraj returns from a brief sabbatical from filmmaking, following last year's moderate hit, the Shivamani-directed Jodi Hakki. This time, Dhanraj pins hopes on a remake of the Sunny Deol starrer in Hindi, Ghayal. The Kannada version stars Shiv Rajkumar along with the pop singer, Suchitra Krishnamoorthy, who makes her debut as heroine in the film.
| "I have mounted the film after reading newspaper reports that the Karnataka Government has extended a 100 per cent Entertainment Tax exemption to remake films," said Dhanraj, who also has the remake rights to hits like Nayakan (starring Kamal Haasan), Agni Nakshatram (starring Prabhu and Karthik), Dalapathi (starring Rajnikant and Mammootty) and Porkalam (starring Murali and Meena).
The muhurat was held in Bangalore recently. For the muhurat shot, Pradip Kumar sounded the clapboard, Ramesh Singh switched on the camera and Dr Rajkumar's brother, SP Varadaraj, directed the first shot. "Most of the shooting will be in Mangalore as the story demands beach locales," said director Shivamani. Lohitashwa, Satyajit and Amarnath Aradhya are also in the cast.

Underworld
K Madhu directs Kannada film

KNOWN for his action films in Malayalam, director K Madhu makes his debut in Kannada with the newly-launched Underworld, starring Saikumar in the lead role.
Apparently, the film marks the coming together of key talents from the four South Indian states: story-writer Chinnikrishna is from Tamil Nadu, the director Madhu is from Kerala, hero Saikumar is well-known in Telugu and Kannada films, and dialogue-writer Ravi Srivastav and producer K Manju are from Karnataka.
Director Madhu introduced himself to the Bangalore presscorps, and said he had directed 25 Malayalam films, most of them starring Mammootty. He said the urge to direct films in all the languages, had brought him to Kannada films. Producer K Manju said the film would be completed in a 48-day schedule. Nasser plays Saikumar's father in this action-packed film.

Saikumar who is returning to Kannada after nearly two years away, said he plays a "mafia don with ethics" in the film. The film's climax will be shot at Pondicherry or Kochi.

Rambhe Urvashi Menake
Arjun directs Kashinath

COMEDY king of yesteryears, Kashinath plays the lead role in the comedy-laden Rambhe Urvashi Menake, which was launched in Bangalore recently. Kashinath has three heroines opposite him in the movie, which is being directed by Arjun.
After a weeklong shoot at White House, Subramanya Nagar, the unit has moved to Thirthalli for remaining shooting. The film has five songs, for which Hamsalekha scores the music. Babu and Ramaswamy are the producers.

Prema Prema Prema
Two songs filmed

RASAVE janana virasave marana samarasave jeevana, goes a song penned by the Gnanpeeth Award-winner Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre for the film Prema Prema Prema. The song was recently filmed by director S Siddalingaiah along with another song written by Rudramurthy Sastry, highlighting the relevance of marriage.
Suresh Raj and Sindhu make their debut in lead roles in the film. The film being made under the banner of Vijayashri Productions has BA Madhu's dialogue, Rajan Nagendra's music, Mallikarjun's cinematography and editing by Shyam. The cast includes Ramya, Direndra Gopal, Arvind, Anil, Pushpaswamy and Geeta Surathkal.

Veeraappanayaka
Bringing up the new year!

STARRING Vishnuvardhan in the role of a desh premi, and Shruti, Veerappanayaka has now entered the re-recording stage.
It is for the first time that the talented S Narayan has directed superstar Vishnuvardhan. Shruti appears in a double role in the movie — as an 18-year-old and a middle-aged woman. Slated for release in the month of January, 1999, the film has cinematography by Giri. Govindu is the co-producer.

BILINGUAL:

AK 47
Shiv, Chandini teamed

PRODUCER Ramu's bilingual AK 47 is now complete. After a hectic schedule in Mumbai, the entire team is back to Bangalore. Shivrajkumar and Chandini, who play the lead roles, participated in the final schedule.
AK 47 is now set for release during Sankranthi. P Rajan is the cinematographer, Ram Shetty has provided the action, Hamsalekha is the lyricist and music director and director Om Prakash provides the screenplay. Om Puri, Girish Karnad, Ramamurthi, Ashish Vidyarthi and Srividya are also in the cast.