Even as the three political parties in the State are fighting hard for 15 assembly segments, actor-turned- politician, Upendra, who is leading his Uttama Prajakiya Paksha (UPP) from the front, is in action, cinematically.
Upendra, who founded his UPP last year with the idea of Mahatma Gandhi’s Poorna Swaraj, is set to hold the gun for his upcoming multi-lingual Kabza (capture). The muhurat of the film was held last week.
The film will be directed by R Chandru, who has earlier worked with Upendra in films like Brahma and I Love You.
The actor is essaying the role of an underworld don, who fictionally ruled South India in late 80s. Upendra, who has just completed the shooting of Buddhivanta-2, is prepping himself for this role.
The film, according to Chandru, will be made in seven Indian languages — Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and Bengali. The muhurat of the Tamil and Telugu version will be held in Chennai and Hyderabad shortly.
While most dons are portrayed wielding machetes, Upendra will be seen holding pistols and a AK-47 in Kabza .
The team released the first look of the film which will also have seven anti-heroes — portrayed by Jagapathi Babu, Prakash Raj, Jaiprakash Reddy, Pradeep Rawat, Manoj Bajpai, Samuthirakani and Nana Patekar.
“These seven men will give a tough fight to Upendra in Kabza ,” says a happy Chandru, who adds that the film will be shot in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Madhurai and Mangaluru.
“I did detailed research on the underworld dons of 80s, especially on their mannerisms,” states the director.
Chandru calls Kabza a pan-Indian film, as the film according to him, “is universal and can identify with all the languages.”
Kabza, claims Upendra, is a new generation film and will have a “ fresh take to an underworld story. My role is of an underworld don, who wants to do something good.”
Upendra soon plans to don the director’s cap after nearly five years after Uppi-2.
The classic set for a re- release
Daari Tappida Maga, a landmark film of Kannada icon Dr Rajkumar, is consistently in news. This blockbuster directed by Peketi Shivaram in 1975, saw Rajkumar in a dual role. The film also featured Kalpana, Manjula, Arathi, Jayamala, MV Rajamma, KS Ashwath, Vajramuni and Toogudeepa Srinivas.
The songs were composed by GK Venkatesh and the film had a theatrical run of over 25 weeks in multiple centres when released.
The same film was re-released in 2018 at a prominent single screen on Kempegowda Road.
Now film distributor M Muniraju is all set to release the same in a new avatar — with DTS and renewed resolution on November 22.
“This four-decade old film has been given a digital finishing with 7.1 DTS sound mixing and 2DTK high resolution technology and the film looks completely fresh,” says Muniraju who claims to have spent 25-lakhs to provide for this digital touch.
Vetaran actor and politician Jayamala, who essayed an important character in the movie, says, “I am happy that Daari Tappida Maga is coming back in a new avatar. The subject has not waned and is relevant even today. This movie cherishes family values, while underlining the importance of parental grooming. Women in the film are shown with dignity, without scope for any kind of vulgarity.”
The new Daari Tappida Maga is set to hit 120 screens across the State.
Old experiment in a new bottle
After a gap of four decades, Kannada cinema is set to experiment with the making of an anthology of short films. The first attempt was made by the late Puttanna Kanagal in 1976, a time when stars were ruling the roost. He titled his film as Katha Sangama (Confluence of tales), which featured three short stories.
Bollywood too tried its hand in a similar format with Dus Kahaniyaan (10 stories) in 2007.
Now actor-producer Rishab Shetty is doing the same with his Katha Sangama , which will an amalgamation of seven short stories.
The trailer of this film was launched by Nagalakshmi, wife of Kanagal.
The film features works by seven directors — Kiran Raj, K Shashi Kumar, P Chandrajit Belliyappa, Rahul PK, Jaishankar, A Karan Ananth, Jamadagni Manoj.
And actors like Raj B Shetty, Rishab Shetty, Haripriya, Avinash, Prakash Belwadi, Kishore, Pramod Shetty, Yajna Shetty, Balaji Mahohar are cast in the films. This film also has music by seven composers and has roped in seven cinematographers.
“The audience can savour different dialects of Kannada and the film is an attempt to reach audiences across the State,” says Rishab, who admits he was inspired by the four decade old experiment by Kanagal.
“It was my dream to make Katha Sangama on these lines. However, this work is more urban based,” he says.
Kanagal’s Katha Sangama was shot in black and white and on a shoe-string budget. It featured actors like Gangadhar, Aarathi, Kalyan Kumar, Ambareesh, Umesh, B Saroja Devi, GK Govinda Rao, C Lokanath and Dr Mannur.
In fact, the film also featured Rajinikanth, making it his second film.
