'I have nothing but sympathy for Ganesh'

Wh

en the Kannada film industry was suffering from the drought of remakes, he drenched it with a superhit film Mungaru Male. Not only did he make the lead pair stars overnight but Yogaraj Bhat, too carved a niche for himself as a film-maker. But then with his next venture, Gaalipata, though a hit, he received a lot of criticism about having a hangover of Mungaru Male.

 With nothing but ‘sympathy’ for all those critics, Yogaraj, is stuck with an “indefinite postponement” of Lagori. However, he plans to adapt a novel after the completion of the shoot of his latest film Manasare, which is set to release shortly.

About the film, he explains that it will have no elements of greenery or rain like his previous flicks. “Manasare is a strange film about insane people, which would surely entertain everyone. The outcome so far has been really great, with brilliant
music by Manomurthy and a wonderful job has been done on the art direction,” says Yogaraj. One thing is sure, the movie definitely promises to offer something different.

After all, Yogaraj has roped in two fresh faces, Aindrita Ray and Diganth. Ask him why the change from the ‘golden boy’ and he says, “Ganesh was not at all my option for this script. I needed a second generation hero and Diganth fit the role very well.”

Sharing their experiences about working in the film, Diganth had said that he was more than happy while Aindrita had said that she felt on ‘top of the world working under Yogaraj Bhat and that the shoot was like a picnic’. “Those are just cliche answers. It was everything but a picnic. We had to travel a lot, work late hours, except for acting none of us had any time on our hands,” he said.

One thing that Yogaraj gives his artistes during the shoots is freedom. “I generally don’t talk to my actors on how they should act. I give them complete freedom and let them interpret the scene. Both Aindrita and Diganth have unbelievable chemistry and they bring freshness on the screen. They are very affectionate towards each other and it shows,” he adds.

As for now, Yogaraj doesn’t want to write scripts. “It’s a very strenuous process and all one gets is ‘a girl and boy fall in love, they face a hurdle which results in either of them solving it or they die’ kind of story,” he explains.

What does he have to say about Ganesh, producing a film called Maleyali Jotheyali, which apparently has shades of Mungaru Male? “I have nothing but sympathy for Ganesh. If I comment any more than that, I may hurt people’s feelings and that is not my intention. Still I wish him all the best for his venture,” replies Yogaraj cheekily.