Mahesh Kumar’s name today is synonymous with his debut film Ayogya (‘the worthless one’).In fact, he is even known as ‘Ayogya’ Mahesh. The film went on to be a hit and won five awards from Chitrasante —Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Lyricist and Best Comedian.
The film, which features Ninasam Satish and Rachita Ram in the lead is produced by TR Chandraskehar under the banner of Crystal park Cinema. The film’s songs are composed by Arjun Janya and lyrics are written by director Chethan Kumar. The song Yenammi Yenammi Yaarami Neeammi also became a top chartbuster.
The film catapulted Mahesh to such dizzying heights that he is now swarmed by film offers. But, not being one to cash in on his fame, Mahesh is in no hurry to take on films. Instead, he has rejected 11 directorial offers, as he wants to give his all to his second venture — Madagaja , which will feature Sri Murali in the lead and is being produced by Umapathy.
“As for the female lead, we still need to finalise on the name,” says Mahesh, who shares the story of his journey and how Ayogya came into being.
“When I decide to become a director, I worked under names like Yoraj Bhat as an assistant. When I wanted to become an independent director, I approached a couple of actors and they did not give me the dates. Dejected, I went to my home town, Maragowdana Halli near Mandya to over come my frustrations.”
Director Mahesh with the cast of the film
While Mahesh was there he witnessed a Grama Panchayat election, which “had a lot of drama”. That is when he had his ‘Eurekha’ moment and started penning the story of Ayogya.
“I knew then that the same story can be told in a humorous way in a small budgeted film. That was when I decided to cast Satish,” recalls Mahesh.
Next he wanted to bring Rachita Ram on board. “I chased her manager for a month. Finally I managed to get her personal contact and almost 100 to 150 messages later Rachita got back to me and gave me an appointment at the Taj West End. It was a Sunday and at 4 pm. I was told by her manager that I will get just 10 minutes, but got 45 minutes with her. She accepted to act in the film and was also gracious enough to cut down her fee by 40 per cent for Ayogya,” shares an emotional Mahesh, who then lauds Rachita for playing the role of a Mandya girl and even dubbing for herself in that dialect.
Mahesh also shares that many people opposed the title Ayogya. “ It means the worthless one. But I was punning on it both ways —‘Ayogya’ and ‘A-yogya’ which also means the ‘a worthy one’. It had both positive and negative connotations and that is what I wanted.”
Then he beams as he says that his film, which was released on September 17, 2018 in 150 theatres, won five awards from Chitrasante. “That is not all, the song Yenammi became a super duper hit with a 100 million views on YouTube even before its release. This particular song was composed by Arjun Janya in just four hours! The songs were a hit even before the film was released. The very first show was housefull and in two days the film had made a collection of 2.5 crores,” shares Mahesh, who adds that he believed in the story and the music.
“Before the film’s release, Colors Kannada Channel wanted to buy our film for Rs 60 lakhs. But after it became a hit, they bought it for a larger sum and till date Ayogya is one of the most telecast film on primetime. It has broken every record, including winning five awards —in the categories of best hero, best heroine, best director, best music and best comedian,” beams the young director.
“We all put in our 100 per cent effort and also got back the same in our returns. I was dejected when I worked on my first film, today the world is celebrating me. Yet, I am not on cloud nine as I can never forget that I started from scratch. I am working on Madagaja and am once again putting in all my effort into this film.”
