The pretty teenage girl stomps out of the house with baggage along with her parents. The parked station-wagon filled with household articles gives an indication that the family is vacating the house. A young man watches this from a distance sporting a disappointed look though his face lights up on seeing the girl.
This scene was shot at BHEL Colony in the suburban Serilingampally by debut director Gautham Patnaik with cinematographer A. Venkatesh cranking the camera. The girl's role is essayed by newcomer Aishwarya who hails from Bangalore, while noted Kannada actor Srinath and Kavitha play the role of the parents.
The untitled youthful entertainer is a remake of Kannada film, ‘Josh.' As we look at the distraught young hero (played by debutante Siddharth Rajkumar, a cousin of Prabhas), S.V. Babu, the producer says, “that disappointed look will go away in the next scene.”
In the next scene, Rakul, the film's heroine steps into the house along with her father (Suman).
“Our hero's sole goal in life from the time he was studying tenth standard was to fall in love. He fails the first time. We will see what happens this time,” smiles Babu. He is making the movie simultaneously in Tamil ( Yuvan ) with the lead actors playing their respective characters. He adds that there is a subtle message for youngsters not to neglect their parents or their studies and career for love.
“This is the tale of one such young man who loses everything including friends when he goes wayward in a bout of infatuation. The climax is realistic and touching,” says the producer.
Filmmaker Bheemaneni Srinivasa Rao dons the grease paint as the hero's father while Yamuna is cast as the mother.
In fact Bhemaneni was so fascinated by the original version he wanted to buy the rights to remake it in Telugu. “He liked the hero's father character so much that I requested him to play the role.”
While he was studying at Old Fort High School in Bangalore, Shakthi Prasad (father of the multi-lingual hero Arjun Sarja) was his drill master who was also a popular villain in Kannada films.
“I used to be with him to know about cinema and that kindled the interest in me towards this field,” says Babu.
Josh was his seventh film that featured an all new star cast, 40 of them selected from about twelve thousand applicants.
The Telugu version has been shot in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Goa. Joshua Sridhar composed the music for the five songs.
Plans are afoot to release the audio in June and the light bantered entertainer in July.
