Letting the cat out of the bag

The Indian Premier League may be over but the aftertaste of match-fixing and betting is still very fresh.

And leave it to Sandalwood to bring this out on the big screen.  Hemanth Hegde’s Nimbe Huli, ‘Muktha Arts’ first Kannada production, has been in the pipeline for quite sometime. When this issue of betting came up, he couldn’t believe how similar it was to the beginning of his film.

“The movie starts off with cricket bookies and how people take to various methods to place a bet on the game,” Hemanth tells Metrolife, while he is quick to add, “but this is just how the movie starts. The film is not entirely about match-fixing or betting.”

The movie, which stars Hemanth, Komal Jha, Madhurima and Niveditha in the lead roles, is a satire about the sweet and sour experiences of life.

 “Life is an expert at throwing surprises and my film will tell you how we need to be prepared to expect the unexpected,” says Hemanth.

Incidentally, there is also a lucky charm in the film. A few years ago during the football World Cup, ‘Paul the Octopus’ stole the limelight when it came to guessing which team would win.

In Nimbe Huli, Hemanth has introduced a white cat that does precisely that.

“We have pegged it on the superstitious belief. In the movie, there is a cat that is considered to be a lucky charm. On the eve of every match, there are two sets of chits kept in front of it with the name of the teams playing.

The team that the cat chooses ends up winning. And like ‘Paul the Octopus’, this cat too earns fame and people who bet come to see which chit it picks. What follows is whether its choice really ends up being lucky,” explains Hemanth.

With the movie up for release soon, it looks like Nimbe Huli will surely have a lot more to offer the audiences.