Ticket to Bollywood

A few years back, director Cheran was a non-entity in Kollywood. There were no takers for his ideas. Then Autograph happened. It not only brought him fame, but the film was critically acclaimed as well, for its novel approach and story. Again, Namma Sudeep remade the film into Kannada as My Autograph and tasted sweet success — barring this film, none of the other releases that year had a decent run at the box office. 

The film, which is about a few years in the life of a man who struggled up the ladder to success, struck a chord among  viewers. Now, this story is going to bollywood! Sudeep has decided to direct the film’s Hindi version as well. While the rest of the cast is yet to be finalised, it is rumoured that Sudeep may, in all probability, play the lead here as well.   For more details, watch this space.
Like father, like son

This one is about Ramya’s first hero Puneet. The guy seems to be growing in stature with each passing film. The rough edges are almost gone and Appu seems to be specialising in being as understated as possible. Arrasu and Milana are fine examples of an actor whose intelligent enough to hit the right note whenever required.

There is no need to mention his singing abilities — all the three brothers have sung in their films. In fact, it was Appu who first sang in films alongside his father when he was just a kid. Shivanna was heard telling people that Appu was the best singer in the family now (we beg to differ though). Rajkumar sang for S P Balasubramanium in Muddina Maava. And now, Puneet has sung a song in Lava-Kusha, starring Uppi and brother Shivanna. Like father, like son, shall we say?

Debut production

Actor Shivadhwaj is now turning director. The actor, who has worked alongside Prema and Anu Prabhakar, was a regular on the small screen too. He has cast Dhyaan (last seen in Sajni alongside Sharmila) as his hero in Neene Neene. The heroine is yet to be finalised. The film will also see a new music director, Shree Murali and will have five to six songs by Hariharan, Sonu Nigam, Nandita, Rajesh and Kunal Ganjawala. Neene Neene’is all set to go on the floor in November.

Joyful times

Fireworks accompanied the audio launch of Prem-Rekha starrer Gunavantha in nearby Shimoga. Music director Hamsalekha chose the occasion to shower praises on the people of the region and the hero of the film, Prem was not far behind. Director Raghuvardhan, who comes from a village close to Shimoga, was delighted to be interacting with the audience and thanked his guru Hamsalekha for giving him the break. His exuberance spilling over, Raghuvardhan announced that Prem would be the hero of all his films! Hope that was not a rash proclamation. 

Spreading the music

In a welcome change, producers are opting to have the music of their films released outside Bangalore. Two audio release functions held outside the capital recently have had Kannada film fans screaming for more.

Darshan, Navya and Ekta Khosla starrer Gaja had its audio launch at Davangere, where a jumbo brought in the box containing the cassettes and cds to the stage (quite appropriate isn’t it?) and blessed the film unit.

Darshan and Ekta Khosla danced to one of the songs from the film, while the other leading lady Navya Nair chose to watch them along with the audience and seemed to be enjoying as well. Lo and behold! the Jogi Girl, Jennifer Kotwal, who had mesmerised the local crowd during the music release of Shree, sashayed onstage to the strains of the popular ditty, Sakku, Sakku... and the crowd went wild.