Of love and friendship

Gandhinagar Grapevine

Looks like multi-starrers in the Kannada film industry are here to stay. The latest release, ‘Chowka’, has all the young breed of actors in Sandalwood like Prem Kumar, Vijay Raghavendra, Prajwal Devaraj, Diganth, Priyamani, Bhavana Menon, Aindrita Ray and Deepa Sannidhi.

The film talks about the relevance of love, friendship and delves into relationships in the present day. Actor Priyamani, who goes by the character name of Maria D’souza in the film, essays the role of a Christian girl.

She is paired opposite Diganth, who is plays the role of Krishna. Priyamani says “It’s a cute love story between a Christian girl and a Hindu boy. But it’s not the regular boy-meets-girl kind of love story. Here the concept of love has been given a deeper meaning and an altogether  different twist.”

     She also points out that there are scenes in the film where the girl is upset and tries to take revenge and that has been portrayed in a pleasant way.

“The girl tries to teach the boy a lesson but there’s nothing harsh about the whole thing. My characterisation is a good contrast to Diganth’s character,” adds Priyamani. She also feels actors in the Kannada film industry are now more open to working in multi-starrers.
Actor Vijay Raghavendra who is paired opposite Bhavana Menon, dubs his experience of working on the project as ‘unforgettable’.

He says that the basic track of the movie traces the lives of four couples. He goes by the screen name of Surya Shetty and belongs to a rich family. “Although the movie is about love and relationships, the dialogues are written in a very mature way. The conversations are not childish and have a meaningful twist,” explains Vijay.

He also says that his role is a very intense one. “There’s a scene where I propose to Bhavana and I choose to make the proposal by the seaside and even that proposal is done in an interesting way where he explains why he wants to spend the rest of his life with her,” he says.

Vijay feels acting in the project has been an interesting experience. “It’s not always that actors in the film industry get a chance to bond with each other. After working in this project, people who were just acquintances have now become friends,” adds Vijay.