A dedicated effort lauded

Music launch

The highly-awaited bilingual film, Shikari, which will mark the entry of veteran Malayalam actor Mammootty into Kannada films, is ready to hit screens.

The team recently came together to release the audio of the film. Interestingly, the music director of the film, V Harikrishna, was missing from the audio launch. But producer K Manju, who was on his toes during the launch, was quick to react and brush aside the issue by stating that the music director was busy with other commitments. 

Nevertheless, with the leading actor Mammootty present, nobody seemed to care about the latter’s whereabouts. The occasion was all about Mammookka, as he is fondly called. All one heard from the cast and crew of the team was how overwhelmed they were by the actor’s dedication and passion towards cinema. Most of them who worked with him in the film said that when not shooting, they would often catch the actor sitting in a corner hooked on to his i-pad watching movies. “He would always be on time for every shot and is a darling of the producers. I really wish I get an opportunity to do one more film with him again,” says K Manju.

National Award-winning director Abhay Simha too couldn’t stop raving about the actor. 

Honoured to have worked with Mammootty at such a young age, Abhay says that what really impressed him was the way he picked up the language and dubbed for it himself. “He ensured that he dubbed his lines and pulled it off in 12 days,” added Abhay. Well-known z choreographer-cum-actress Harini too said that it was his striving for perfection that makes her want to work with the actor again. 

“I never realised how time flew on the sets and before I knew, we were wrapping up the film,” she added. 

Soon, it was Mammootty’s turn to speak and thankfully, at least, he talked about the music of the movie. “I feel that people will like the songs more than the movie itself,” joked Mammootty.

Playing a software engineer who falls in love with a character in a novel based in pre-independence era, Mammootty said that the songs are deeply rooted in the culture of Karnataka. “The flavour of the state has been retained in both the Kannada version as well as the Malayalam. And one can relly feel the impact of the songs in the theatre itself,” he added.
 The album of Shikari has already hit the stands and the film is scheduled to release on March 30.