For his teacher

An ‘Accident’ leads to some ‘Minchina Ota’ by the offender. But no such sequence is planned here. This is ‘Cyanide’ A M R Ramesh’s ‘gurudakshina’ to Sa Ra Govindu! Not a remake of the hit Shankar Nag film.

Ramesh, a young man full of ideals joined Govindu in his pro-Kannada movement years ago. He also worked for Gowrishankar’s ‘Elu Suttina Kote’ during this time. Impressed by his commitment and fascination towards cinema (obviously), Govindu sent Ramesh to the Madras Film Institute. Now, Ramesh deemed it was payback time and is directing ‘Minchina Ota’ for his mentor. Ramesh is doing the film for free- not that Govindu will let his ‘shishya’ go empty-handed. Ramesh has however asked for some cutting edge techno stuff, with a promise to turn the film into a mega blockbuster. Coming in the wake of a film like ‘Cyanide’, Govindu has a reason to wear a satisfied smile.

Brothers in arms

While the first ‘Minchina Ota’ had the Nag brothers with Uncle Loknath for company, the new one features brothers Vijay Raghavendra and Murali for the first time together onscreen. Producer Sa Ra Govindu and director Ramesh, who wanted to cast these brothers in their film had to wait for the duo to be able to allot them bulk dates. Now that the dates have been taken care of, the unit is eager to cash in on the exploits of this talented, good-looking duo. Ramesh has also gone a step further and got Murali to change his looks and locks(!) Murali sure looks a desi Adonis already!

In the film, the brothers get to chase willowy Lakshmi Rai, who was last seen in Anaji Nagraj’s ‘Snehana Preetina’, a remake of ‘Ishq.’

On a positive note

V Manohar seemed pleased as punch at the launch of ‘Minchina Ota.’ The composer has not only written a song for the film, he is also introducing two fresh talents as well. One is Raghu Dixit, part of a rock band, and owner of a rich voice. Having met him at the launch of the now-shelved film, ‘Psycho’, Manohar wasted no time in persuading the musician to sing for him. Meanwhile, Manohar has also roped in a Yakshagana Bhagawatha for one of the songs. And the Bhagawatha happens to be a woman!

Setting the record straight

Actress Ramya is miffed with some sections of the media for insinuating that she has given up Kannada films to do films in other languages. All because she was out of some projects in recent months. She now wants to set the record straight.

Listing out the projects she says she refused to do ‘Aramane’ opposite Ganesh as she didn’t feel the ‘role was for me.’ Clashing dates meant she was out of Ramesh’s ‘Accident’ too. She couldn’t commit to ‘Kammannana Makkalu’ as she was required to give bulk dates in November which she didn’t have. As an alternative, she was offered a song which she refused.

Then there is ‘Mukhyamantri, I Love You’ opposite Vijay. Ramya was not comfortable portraying a real person, as her conscience didn’t allow her to!

But fans need not despair. She has ‘Mussanje Maatu’ opposite Sudeep, directed by newcomer Mahesh.
She has also given the nod to Rockline Venkatesh’s film opposite Ganesh, to be directed by D Rajendra Babu after ‘Sankranti’.