'I want to direct a movie soon'

Candid Confession

The heir apparent appears set to be officially crowned. Shivarajkumar, actor-son of the legendary Rajkumar, will soon join the pantheon of the Sandalwood heroes who have scored a century.

The milestone, his 100th film, Jogaiah — The Legend of the Underworld, has also unleashed in him the desire to wield the megaphone. And Shivanna, as Shivarajkumar is known to millions of fans, is keen on making it clear that he means business when he talks of his directorial dreams.

“I would like to direct somebody else and not me. I wish to represent simple human emotions, the relationships between people,” Shivanna told Metrolife and added the “film will be a journey of sorts taking people through the ordinary things they see around them everyday. With all the commercial ingredients, my directorial venture will script reality in a totally different light.”

After a hundred films, where does he see Sandalwood heading?

“I think we must spruce up our promos and marketing. It must be aggressive and we must go all out to sell our movies,” he observes.

He hopes there’d be a breed of directors who will script out unusual themes.  Will he set a trend with his directorial venture and turn a new leaf in Kannada film industry?

Shivanna appears game for the challenge.

Jogaiah... also lays to rest rumours that his brother Puneeth would be directing his 100th movie.

“Puneeth sure has plans to direct a movie, casting me, someday. But he will not be directing my 100th film. He’ll be as brilliant as a director as he is as an actor,” Shivanna says. The family though had plans for producing Shivanna’s milestone but put it on hold for now.

Shivanna says he still considers every new movie as his first one. Beginning with Anand in 1986, Shivanna says he has grown a great deal and every character he has essayed thus far has been very special.

The array of roles he has played can make any actor proud. If he was seen as an action hero in Samyukta, he meted out justice in Inspector Vikram and sent Kannadigas into rapturous delight in Aasegobba Meesegobba.

“The turning points in my life have been Om, Nammoora Mandara Hoove and Jogi. They brought out different sides of me and proved to be big hits,” avers Shivanna who says he has never done a full length comedy till date.

Shivanna will soon be seen in Kshatriya which delves into phobia. “It could be phobia about heights or phobia of telling lies… it’s about fear,” he says.  In Tammassu, he plays nasty, crude inspector who later repents his wrong and seeks to explore the good in him.