Kantha Kannalli on his journey as a director

Director Kantha Kannalli sees cinema as art, no matter what ‘grade’ a film is classified as

May 21, 2018 12:14 pm | Updated 01:39 pm IST

Kantha Kannalli always dreamed of making films; a dream that came true after years of struggle — by starting right at the bottom and working his way up. He started by assisting various directors and working up the ladder to films with higher budgets.

His debut fim was Jalsa, meaning ‘celebration’,which saw actor Niranjan make his debut, while Akanksha played the female lead. The film went on to be a huge hit.

Kannalli, who began his film journey in 2002 , is now geared up for his next release Iruvudellava Bittu , which has garnered attention as it has Tamil singer Simbu lending his voice for it.

As he looks forward to his next release, the young director goes back in time and shares interesting stories from his very first film Jalsa, which won the Karnataka State Film Award in the Best Female Playback category for the song ‘Nannede Beedige’, sung by Sangeetha Ravindranath.

“Coming from a rural background, we hardly had any chance for entertainment. There would be just one house, that would have a TV in the whole village. I would wait with baited breath to watch Chitramanjari every week. I loved music, as my father was part of a harikathe group. He was passionate about singing and theatre. I would carry his harmonium, accompany him and watch him perform through the night. Hence, by default, music became my first love. I would save money, buy audio cassettes and listen to songs for hours and later write my own lyrics to that same tune.

As I grew up, I started watching three films at a go. It would be the first-day-first-show. Even if the film was bad, I would go back and watch it in the matinee show. I have no clue why I would do that. All I can now recall is my desire to get into the film industry grew stronger each day. I had no one in the industry to encourage or support me.

As I was the eldest son, I also had quite a few responsibilities. So I took up a job in a toy shop and later in a huge company. That exposed me to life right from the slums to the lifestyle of the rich. In the meantime, I would also look intently at papers and attend every audition that was advertised in them. Yet nothing happened, but on the professional front I grew and became financially stable. My colleagues also knew about my creative inclinations and would suggest names and assignments from the film industry.

One day, a friend introduced me to a filmmaker. Now when I look back, I feel they were my most painful days. My dream was just to make cinema. But once I came to Gandhinagar they had these gradings of A-grade, C- grade etc. It was a shock to me as cinema meant just cinema to me — with no grades. During this time the harsh reality of the underpinnings of the film industry hit me. They would write the script or the scenes on location. Films were made in a haphazard manner. I was discontented as this was not how I envisioned myself working. Then I decided to quit the industry. For almost a year I did not venture into movies, yet the passion did not leave me.

After that I was introduced to MD Sridhar and got to work in the film JollyDays . Here my talents were encouraged and from there I started working for the film Porki and then came Huduga Hudugi and Bachchan, with Sudeep.

Soon I was offered a film as a director and I was not happy with the original title or script. So we reworked the whole thing and I chose the title Jalsa as it was a celebration for me and for the whole team. We were off to do something with a passion.

The journey of directing that film was also a constant struggle as I was debuting as a director. I marched ahead with just one goal — make a neat film which is a complete entertainer.

At the end of the day all that matters is that I am satisfied with what I have done and still dream of making good cinema.

As told to Shilpa Sebastian R

This column chronicles a filmmakers first journey.

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