Roping in fresh talent

Director Preetham Gubbi has finally zeroed in on the title and cast of his big-budget, multi-starrer film — which also happens to be his first own production under the banner of Gubbi Talkies. The title of the film is Nam Duniya, Nam Style and the cast comprise three boys and two girls.

“The story is about love and friendship. It traces the story of three childhood friends. All the three boys have their own style and we’re focussing on their different lifestyles — but the three remain thick friends,” explains Preetham. He adds, “There are three classes of people — one set from the City, the middle class and the lower-middle class. These young people share a very close friendship but there are obvious differences and there’s also a twist in the tale.”

About the cast, Preetham states, “I wanted only fresh faces for the script because the subject is very youthful. I didn’t want a known face and wanted to experiment with something very different. Interestingly, the three boys and two girls speak fluent Kannada and will be dubbing for the film.”

The boys are Krishna — also known as Sunil, a popular TV anchor — Likith Shetty and former RJ and actor Vinayak Joshi. The girls are Kavya M Shetty, a model, and Milana Nagaraj, an actress and a national-level swimming champion.

“All these young people are a movie old and they’re each talented in their own way. The cast will be trained in dancing and put through a 15-day workshop before we begin the shoot,” shares Preetham.

Talking about her character and the experience of working with Preetham, Milana — who has completed her engineering course — says, “I play a modern girl. I’ve acted in a couple of movies but working with Preetham is going to be different. I am excited.”

Krishna, another character in the film, confesses that he’s a big fan of Preetham and working with him is like a dream come true.  “I’ve watched all of Preetham’s movies and I admire the way he handles sensitive subjects. I play the character of a slum-dweller in the film and I am expected to have long hair and look unkempt, which is what I am working on at the moment,” says Krishna.

Vinayak Joshi has done several films as a child artiste. Even after having worked in the Kannada film industry for 17 years, he calls this his comeback film. 

“I got a call at 12 at night asking me to come on board this film and I was thrilled. I am glad that Preetham is giving importance to local talent, at a time when there is so much competition in the market,” observes Vinayak.

Venu is the cinematographer and Malayalam music composer Shaan Rehman has penned five songs for the film. “I am sure that this film will be the biggest musical, for some of the songs are truly different,” Preetham sums up.