Ready to experiment with roles
Actress Haripriya is always working on one or two projects in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu language industries, almost simultaneously. Her strength, she says, is that she can easily adapt to any situation and is willing to experiment with roles.
Busy shooting for a Telugu film in Hyderabad, Haripriya has also almost completed her part in Rana Thanthra, opposite Vijay Raghavendra, which she says is a love-cum-thriller film. "I've never worked on a subject like this before and I really enjoyed working on the character. It's quite different from what I've done before," she says.
Rana Thanthra has largely been shot in Bangalore and portrays the influence of IT culture on young people, "Youngsters working in IT companies seem to have forgotten their culture and roots. They are prone to aping the West. We shot at night and looking at how the film has turned out, I think those sleepless nights were worth it," says Haripriya, who also informs that 50 per cent of the shooting has been completed.
She says that during the shoot, she had lots of green tea and stuck to a fruit diet to keep herself fit. "I made sure that I didn't eat too much, lest I would fall asleep. Eating a stomach-full usually leaves me feeling lethargic," she avers.
Haripriya's next film, Nandhe opposite Murali is also a love story. Murali is Vijay Raghavendra's brother and she says that she thoroughly enjoyed working with both the brothers, "I think they're both very talented in their own way. I play an NRI girl. She's heard so much about India that she wants to come visit the country but her parents dissuade her from coming," explains Haripriya. "But curiosity gets the better of her and she leaves home on the pretext of holidaying with her friends and travels to India. That's when she meets Murali. The circumstances that leads to the meeting is interesting," she adds.
She is also acting in a Malayalam film, Bhadrasanam, opposite actor Manoj K Jayan. "Manoj plays both the hero and the villain in the film, which attempts to draw a connection between science and black magic," observes Haripriya.
She plays three different characters — a medical student, a doctor and an air-hostess. "Each role is different from the other. I play a girl who is fun-loving and is also a bit of kleptomaniac who flicks small things from wherever she shops. She happens to flick a ring and the problems that ensue is what the story is about," she sums up.
Nina C George
New tunes hit the stands
The audio launch of Puneeth Rajkumar-starrer, Yaare Koogaadali, was a low-key and simple affair. There was no elaborate guest list, display of fire crackers or even long speeches.
Starting on time and along with a few well-wishers from the industry, the cast and crew of the production gave a deeper insight into the film itself. Being the 79th production of Vajreshwari Combines, the film has definitely raised a lot of curiosity as it will be the first time Tamil director Samuthirakani — known for films like Nadodigal and Poralli — is directing a Kannada movie. But there was more to the event than just the audio launch.
Producer Raghavendra Rajkumar started off by singing a beautiful song, which was followed by an introduction to the film itself. "The movie is a remake of the Tamil film Poralli. It was first introduced to us by our friend Naveen. All of us really enjoyed it and felt we could bring it to the Kannada audience. We then roped in the director of the film, Samuthirakani, who was more than happy to direct it for us. What was really nice of him was that he wanted to work with our technicians — the only person he wanted on board was the cameraman, Sivakumar, who was the cinematographer of Mynaa," explains Raghavendra.
While everyone praised the director and the way the film has turned out, the lead actor Puneeth Rajkumar says that the hero of the day was the music director, V Harikrishna. "The music plays such an integral role in the movie. But one mustn't forget to avoid buying pirated music CDs and to download songs only from the official sites," he adds.
The film has three catchy numbers and Harikrishna states that none of the tunes have been forced into the script.
"Ihave worked with this production house many times and feel that I have become one of the family. I have watched the movie and I have never come across such a gripping story. Though there are very few songs in the film, I feel people will still enjoy it as there is not a song out of place," he adds.
While Bhavana, the heroine, was missing, Sindhu Loknath — who also plays an important role in the film — added to the glamour quotient of the event. Playing a very bubbly and simple girl, Sindhu says that she was on top of the world when she was offered a role with the production house. "It has always been a dream to work with such a big banner and the cherry on the cake was to work under such a talented director. I am grateful to have gotten this opportunity," she says.
A surprise element in this is movie is actress Smitha aka Niveditha. Raghavendra says that Smitha will surely surprise everyone with her performance. While the actress humbly responds, "It's a performance-oriented role and I hope I live up to people's expectations."
But one thing everyone couldn't stop raving about was the chemistry shared by Puneeth and Yogi, who have earlier worked together in Hudugaru as well. Yogi says that with this flick, he has learnt a lot about film-making. "Watching Samuthirakani work on the sets has been such a nice experience. I was so scared at first as he is such a big director; but slowly, as the comfort level grew, we became good friends. Watching him, I actually learnt how to edit as well," he adds. The event then ended on a high note with the first trailer of the film being screened, which only left people wanting more.
The music of the film has already hit stands under the label 'Anand Audio'.
DHNS
All praises for Vijay
The Duniya Vijay-starrer Rajani Kantha also held its audio launch recently. It was a grand affair, with a huge attendance of stars — including Sudeep, Ramesh Aravind, Upendra and 'Golden Star' Ganesh, who all supported the actor and producer K Manju. Prior to the release, there was a three-hour long cultural programme from prominent event manager Niranjan and Ramesh Aravind and Upendra graced the occasion.
Upendra, in his typical style, entertained the crowd and even described the producer as a jackfruit. "He is very rough and tough on the outside but a sweet person on the inside," he adds. Sudeep, however, couldn't stop raving about Vijay's body.
"He may look small but he has one of the best bodies in the industry. The amount of dedication and effort he puts into maintaining it is very impressive, I don't think I can ever work out like him," he adds.
Ganesh adds that he has known Vijay for a very long time and has watched him grow since his struggling days. "We both became heroes around the same time and it is really nice to see how well he has grown since then. The appreciation of the fans assembled here says a lot," he adds.
Actress Aindrita Ray couldn't make it for the launch as she was not keeping well.
But strangely enough, even the music director Arjun Janya was not there for the audio launch. Nevertheless, K Manju released the music and said that one of the highlights was the fact that Vijay has sung one song himself.
With so many praises being showered from all corners, who says there are no friends in this industry?