Credit: Special Arrangement
Janardhan Chikkanna, known for the 2018 film ‘Gultoo’, is back with his third feature ‘Agnyathavasi’. It is produced by filmmaker Hemanth M Rao under his newly launched banner Dakshayani Talkies.
It is a murder mystery set in the late ’90s in the Western Ghats, Chikkanna tells Showtime. The story and screenplay is written by Krishna Raj.
“In a murder mystery, the emphasis is usually on the crime. In ‘Agnyathavasi’, Krishna Raj has come up with a good mix of the crime and the aftermath. This mixture compelled me,” he says. Rangayana Raghu, who played the lead in ‘Shakhahaari’, also a murder mystery, is the protagonist in ‘Agnyathavasi’ as well. Paavana Gowda and Ravishankar Gowda also star in the film.
‘Gultoo’, a cyber-thriller, was the engineer-turned-director’s directorial debut. Chikkanna’s film was fresh and dealt with data theft.
After ‘Tagarupalya’ enthralled audiences, Dhananjaya K A is back with his second production, ‘Vidyapati’, starring Nagabhushana. It is directed by Esham and Haseen. The director-duo are best known for the Covid drama ‘Ikkat’, also starring Nagabhushana.
Like ‘Ikkat’, ‘Vidyapati’ is also a comedy drama. It follows an ordinary guy who has to find extraordinary strength to beat a physically strong opponent (Garuda Ram).
“Nagabhushana’s character is a greedy cunning person with no responsibilities and prefers money over everything. The film is about how life teaches him a lesson,” director Esham says.
The film also stars Dhananjaya in an eccentric role, Anaconda. Malaika T Vasupal and Raghayanna Raghu also star in the film.
‘Vidyapati’ and ‘Agnyathavasi’ are scheduled to release next week.