Raj clan's gen-3 hero debuts as 'Siddhartha'

The Kannada tinsel world will witness another son rise on Friday. ‘Siddhartha’ starring Vinay Rajkumar, the third generation hero from the first family of the Kannada filmdom, will be released at 68 cinemas across the State on Friday.

Vinay, fondly known as Vinu, is the son of Raghavendra Rajkumar, the second of the three sons of the Kannada thespian the late Rajkumar. Vinay will be fifth hero from the family after Rajkumar and his three sons, Shivaraj, Raghavendra and Puneeth.

‘Siddhartha,’ with the tagline ‘give me a break,’ is said to be a youth-centric movie mainly dealing with friendship and love. Eighteen-year-old Delhiite Apoorva Arora is cast opposite Vinay, a commerce graduate from the City’s St Joseph’s College.

According to Raghavendra, Vinay plays a guitarist in the movie directed by Prakash Jayaram. V Harikrishna has scored the music and popular poet Jayanth Kaikini has penned the lyrics for the flick which is said to be a musical thriller.

The film, that has already made a lot of buzz, has a song shot in freezing temperature in France. Vinay says it is an experience he will never forget for a long time. “It was freezing. After every song, we were wrapped in blankets.

After each shot, we drank cups of coffee to stay warm,” he said during a chat with Deccan Herald recently. Indeed, acting is Vinay’s passion and he has been preparing for the past two years for his celluloid launch.

Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, Raghavendra and his elder brother Shivaraj, who took Ayyappa swami maala deeksha at a temple in the City, prayed for the success of the movie.

“Though we go on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala every year, the one this year will be special in view of the release of Vinu’s debut movie. In a couple of days, Vinu too will wear the Ayyappa maala and join us on the pilgrimage,” said Raghavendra. Fans hope that like Shivanna’s debut movie ‘Anand’ and Puneeth’s ‘Appu’,Vinay’s ‘Siddhartha’ too will be a roaring hit.

“Though I have not watched much of Rajkumar’s films, I am an ardent fan of Shivanna and Puneeth. I am confident that Vinay will emerge a star in the coming days,” said 25-year-old Vishwa from Hanumanthanagar who was trying to book tickets at Uma cinema in Chamarajpet for the first day first show of ‘Siddhartha’.