Kannada industry needs a brand makeover

Filmmaker Hemanth Hegde is getting ready with his film Nimbe Huli, which has been in the news, for the right reasons. One, the movie, a comedy caper, according to Hemant is being produced by Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts. Two, its got Anupam Kher, marking his debut in Kannada films. The movie’s got three heroines — Madhurima, Komal Jha and Nivedhitha — and has Hemanth donning the hero’s role.

Stepping into the hero’s shoes
“I chose to don the role of the hero because others refused to play the lead,” laughs Hemanth. “I’d approached three top heroes with the role but they were too cordial and so, I just decided to do the role.” His prior acting experiences in TV and his previous film Housefull gave Hemanth the confidence to “don the grease paint”, for an elaborate role such as this. Roping in Anupam Kher, on the other hand, was quite easy. “I just mailed him the script and asked him if he would do it? He replied back saying that he liked the script and would do it. That was out of the blue,” Hemanth gushes. “He is a very sweet person,” he remarks about Anupam Kher.

Big banner support
Recounting how he managed to get the Mukta Arts banner to produce his film, he says, “I’d done a low-budget film for Mukta Searchlight Films, in 2006, called Khanna and Iyer. And so, when a local producer, who was initially interested in producing the film backed out, I approached Mukta; they liked the script and agreed to produce it.” Elaborating more on the need for big banners to back Kannada films, Hemanth states, “I feel the Kannada film industry needs a brand makeover if we need to compete with English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. Bangalore is a cosmopolitan city and Kannadigas, by nature are cosmopolitan. They don’t mind watching films in other languages and expect the same high standards from Kannada films too. Giving Kannada films that brand makeover is my aim.”

Looking ahead with hope
Nimbe Huli, he informs us, will be released by end of March next year. “It’s a slapstick comedy. The highlights of the movie, however, are that the editing and story telling pattern have never been done before in a Kannada film.” He refuses to divulge the movie’s plot though, stating, “Let the curiosity be there!” “It will be entertaining fare,” he assures and confidently concludes, “I have seen the rushes and am sure it will be fairly successful.”