'I like directing more than acting'

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Arjun Sarja has slipped into his comfort zone once again. After a long gap, he has not only acted in the Kannada film ‘Abhimanyu’ but directed and written script for it too.

The film has been doing really well. Industry observers attribute its success to the
socially-relevant subject and the fact that Arjun’s presence in a Kannada film after a long gap.

Arjun confesses that he is always conscious when he directs a film in Kannada.

“Kannada is my mother tongue and I want to give the industry nothing less than my best. There’s a lot of ground work gone into the making of ‘Abhimanyu’. I managed to collect authentic reports, take out old government files and records to source information. The movie has been made after a thorough research and understanding of the subject,” reasons Arjun.

After the movie was released, Arjun had a lot of people calling him up just to tell him that they identify with his character in some way or other.

“Most of the children from the lower rung of society are deprived of education, thanks to poverty. Their parents can’t even afford to give their children one square meal a day. The film captures a single man’s struggle against mafia. It is an intense and an emotionally exhausting role,” he explains.

The film has a solid storyline which is narrated in a commercial and entertaining format, he notes. The veteran actor has always worked on a lot of things, almost simultaneously.

“Even when I am acting, I always sit with the directors and give them my inputs and share my thoughts on how best to improvise and better the product. I like directing more than acting but I never find the time to do so. I never worked on any other project when I was working on ‘Abhimanyu’. I didn’t want to compromise since it was being made in three languages,” he reasons.   
 
Arjun has already started working on his next directorial venture where he intends to cast his older daughter Aishwarya Arjun.

“It will be a love story that will be scripted in a unique way. It won’t be the usual love story. We will attempt to look at love from a different angle. I am still on the lookout for a hero,” he signs off.