'Lifeu Ishtene' sequel soon?

When he first announced that his first film would be titled Lifeu Ishtene, people expected the film to have his mentor Yogaraj Bhat’s hangover.

Today, after three successful weeks at the box office, Pawan Kumar is elated that he’s given all his detractors a good answer. He may even be planning a sequel to the film next if everything works out according to his current plans.

“I’m happy that the film’s collections are going strong and are showing good reports. In fact, apart from the big cities like Bangalore, Mysore and Hubli, even the so called ‘B Centres’ are drawing crowds and audience have said they can relate to this film,” says Pawan, whose slice of life romantic comedy has become quite the hit with the young Kannada audiences and has even restored Diganth’s position as the urban favourite.

And he’s quite happy about this fact, because he feels that his detractors have been proved wrong. “A lot of the people in Gandhinagar had initially warned me that my film will only attract crowds in the big cities and I shouldn’t take up such a project as my first. But, going by the way my film has performed at the box office, I’m thrilled that I stuck to my guts and proved them wrong,” says Pawan.

As for the other criticism that his film has a Yogaraj Bhat hangover, he chooses to accept that is his biggest compliment. “My mentor (Bhat) takes concepts that will work for the audience. He keeps the viewers in mind while trying to say what he feels. This is the biggest lesson I’ve learnt from him. If people feel that my film reminds them of his, then it is a good sign that I’ve picked the right things from him,” says Pawan, who had previously worked with Bhat in Manasaare and Pancharangi.

After going on promotional tours to Hubli and Mysore, Pawan is now working on his next scripts. “I have a couple of ideas in mind. One of them is a tentative sequel to the film, which is called Wifeu Kashtane. This will basically show how marriage is a bad idea for the character that Diganth played in Lifeu Ishtene. But, I will wait and see how the script turns out before announcing this as my next one,” signs off Pawan.