After capturing the beauty of the monsoons in Mungaru Male , filmmaker Yogaraj Bhat now turns his eye to the Assembly elections with a four-and-a-half minute anthem.
“The lyrics are as important as the music,” says Bhat. “I was approached by Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar of the Election Commission. He said my words would convince 30 % of non-voters to cast their vote. I have used commoners in my frames from all the districts of Karnataka. There are no celebrities taking centre stage,” says Bhatru, as he is affectionately known in the film industry.
Bhat’s lyrics ‘Maadi maadi matadana, irali deshada abhimaana’ are set to music by V Harikrishna, sung by Vijay Prakash and choreographed by Imran Sardariya. “I am sure this anthem with its western symphonic sounds, bugle and drum cadences will go viral.”
Talking about his next film, Panchatantra , set for a June release, Bhat says, “It is an unusual story that would resonate with youngsters and adults as it deals with the generation gap. The music by Harikrishna is contemporary with a mix of Indian and Western influences.”
Bhat is all praise for Harikrishna’s melodies. “It is a joy working with a strong team that understands my thoughts. Minds that flow in tandem can have meeting point. Parallel streams of thought have to unite to create melody.”
Mungaru Male recorded the highest box-office collections in Kannada cinema history and holds the record for the longest running film at a multiplex. “When I was working on Mungaru Male I knew it was shaping well. How can one ever predict what people will connect to? Success cannot be planned, it has to happen and that is the best thing about it.”
The 45-year-old dons many hats including director, producer, lyricist and screenwriter. On what he enjoys the most, Bhat says, “While I enjoy directing, my passion is writing lyrics. The unpredictable flow of thoughts overwhelms me.”
Being the youngest of seven children, as a young boy Bhat was exposed to all forms of art and music. “My father was a yakshagana artist. I have never known the radio switched off in my house. From western classical music to ghazals, bhavageethe and chitrageethe, we were surrounded by melody. Our family also enjoyed film classics such as Akira Kurosawa’s Ran , or Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather . While I was in Dharwad I was exposed to a lot of folk music too. And in college in Mysore I was immersed in Kannada literature.”
When Bhat set foot in Bengaluru at 22, he didn’t have his dreams neatly sorted. “I hoped to be a cameraman. I worked my way through as an assistant director under Girish Kasaravalli, V Ravichandran, Sunil Kumar Desai and B Suresh.” His first chance to direct came with a serial Chakra and the rest as they say is history.
