Rohit Starrer Kannada Film Set for Release in August
by Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Jun 1: After his debut as hero Rohit in the Konkani movie, Kaazar, directed by national award winning Dr Richard Castelino who has made a name for himself in the regional films and produced by Dubai based Shipping magnate Frank Fernandes, the same banner’s first-ever Kannada film, ``Ellelloo neene, nannalloo neene,” is all set for release in August.

"Continuous shooting for 53 days in exotic foreign locations in Bangkok, Malaysia and Singapore as well as in Shimla, Bangalore, Mysore, Belur-Halebid, Chitradurga, Jog Falls, Madikeri, Kaup, Someshwar and St Mary’s Island has been completed. Dubbing work is over. Re-recording and DTS work is pending,” said Castelino disclosing that the first print was expected by the first week of July.

"We are hopeful of releasing the film in August,” said the producer Frank Fernandes, who flew in to Bangalore for ironing out the final loose ends.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Fernandes, who has settled down in Dubai for over three decades and has made a name for himself as a leading shipping and forwarding agent, said he was scheduled to fly by the ill-fated Air India Express Boeing flight to Mangalore on Saturday, May 22.

"Providentially, I had second thoughts about travelling by the night flight and changed the date of journey. Instead of flying to Mangalore, I had to come to Bangalore. If the flight tickets were booked as per the original plans, I would have travelled by the same flight,” he said pointing out that he was lucky to escape but felt extremely sorry for the 158 persons, who lost their lives and shared the grief of their families.

"This is like a rebirth to me, considering the fact I often fly to Mangalore. God has been kind to me all through my life,” says Fernandes.

"I hope I will be able to give something back to society,” he adds.

"I am not a deeply religious or pious person. But I hold my faith dearly and pray regularly. I read the bible daily and carry my copy wherever I go. Pslam 91 is my favourite,” he confessed making no bones about his aversion to people who make a show of their piety. ``I respect all religions and have friends with people of different faiths. I never try to impose my views or beliefs on others nor promise something which I can’t deliver.”

Fernandes, however, made it clear that he did not expect to earn huge profits or box office returns through his film ventures. ``God has been kind to me and my family. I produced the first movie, Kaajaar, in my mother-tongue and decided to produce the second movie in Karnataka’s official language, Kannada, which is also the language I studied. I will be happy if I am able to recover what I invested or at least a major portion of the investment. If I am able to do that, who knows I may continue to produce more films,” he said.

Dr Richard Castelino, who has earned a name for himself as director of national award-winning films like ``Bangaarada Patler,” ``September 8” and ``Badi” in Tulu or ``Bogsane” and ``Kaajaar” in Konkani or the Kodava film, ``Ponnamma,” said the Kannada film, ``Ellelloo Neene, Nannalloo Neene,” was his maiden effort in the state’s official language.

In fact, the doyen of Kannada film industry Dr Raj Kumar had asked me to concentrate in Kannada films instead of dabbling only in regional films. ``I am inspired by his advice and wish to dedicate this film to him,” said Castelino.

"True love never dies,” is the catchline of the Kannada movie, produced under the banner, `Ferns Movie International.’ It deals with a love story of a brother and sister with twists and turns. Frank’s second son, Larry, christened as Rohit for his filmy career, is the hero with Mangalorean Suprita of `Ambari,’ `Perol’ and `Putra ‘ fame, and another Mangalorean girl Namrata Hegde, who has made a name for herself as a model in Mumbai, Rajanikant of `Crazy Kutumba’ as the comedian and Ashwat Neenasam of `Mungaru Male’ fame as the lead actors.

Incidentally, the film’s celebrated cameraman Mallikarjuna, will be engaged in his 100th film with the Kannada movie, ``Ellelloo…”
An interesting highlight of the movie is the five songs with lyrics by Jayant Kaikini, Kaviraj and Manmohan. One of the songs based on the words penned by the celebrated poet, Kaviraj, took a full seven days of location shooting as the poet had mentioned Mysore Palace, Chamundi Hills, walking in Cubbon Park, shopping on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Vidhana Soudha, the beaches of Mangalore and Kaup as also the picturesque St Mary’s Island, Milagres Church, Madikeri and Gen K M Czriappa’s Statue, Bayalukuppe Tibetan Colony, Belur-Halebid, Chitradurga fort, Chikmagalur and Jog Falls, said Castelino pointing out that the visual effects would be a real treat for the viewers.

Larry or rather Rohit, going by his screen name, himself, is quite thrilled at the experience. ``Maduve maadi nodu, Mane katti nodu,” goes the popular Kannada saying to explain how difficult and challenging is married life just like the travails and challenges in construction of a house. But Rohit confesses that with his first essay in the Konkani movie, ``Kaajaar,” brushed up his Konkani language as he was born, brought up and educated abroad. ``I have now become rather fluent in my own mother-tongue,” he says, adding: ``I have picked up Karnataka’s official language Kannada with his maiden role in the Kannada filmdom. While I had the advantage of speaking in my broken Konkani language at home with my mom and dad, I did not have such an opportunity of conversing in Kannada with anybody. So, learning Kannada was indeed a big challenge.”
Asked what was the most difficult or challenging part of his film acting, Rohit has no hesitation in admitting: ``It is dancing. I managed to handle the stunts and fighting. But dancing? Oh God, I don’t know how I handled it.”

"I know a bit of western dancing and can move my feet, swing the body or sway the hips. But it is dancing, acting and lip movement during the shooting for songs is the most difficult part, especially when you have to do all three simultaneously without having to undergo more than two takes because the more number of takes that need to be taken increases the cost of production. No director will allow that because it increases the budget.  I have learn the lyrics by rote and be able synchronise the lip-movement while showing the expression when close-up shots are taken. The whole thing is a challenging task,” he explains.

Suprita, who met with a minor accident and had fractured her hand and injured the leg resulting in keeping off film shooting for four months, said she was grateful for the producer Frank Fernandes and director Richard Castelino for allowing her time to recover. ``I am particularly grateful that the producer came all the way from Dubai to pay me a visit at the hospital,” she said pointing out that such gestures were uncommon in the film industry.

"I am grateful for the support and cooperation extended by everybody, especially Ashwat Neenasam, from whom I learnt a lot,” confessed Surpita.

Namarata Hegde said she was happy at getting a break in the film industry. ``I am playing a very unusual role of a comic heroine. I am thrilled and am confident that it will become a big hit,:” she remarked.

Dr Richard Castelino, who received national award as the best director of regional films for his Tulu film ``Bangaarada Patler,” which created a box-office record of sorts among Tulu films by running for 105 days, and also ``September 8,”that ran for 65 days, feels public support was necessary if more and more regional language films in Konkani, Tulu or Kodava were to be produced. Though the state government gives subsidy, it is not sufficient and the producers need to recover at least their capital investment, he says pointing out that the producers would be discouraged and keep off the film industry if they are not sure of getting at least their money back.

"The State Government as also the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce should give encouragement to regional language films, their directors and producers. The problems of regional languages were different from those of other languages like Hindi with a bigger market,”said Catelino. Indian cinema’s world-famous film director Satyajit Ray, who produced only one Hindi film, concentrated his entire life in producing films in Bengali and earned international fame, he explained.

The film has stunts by Kaurav Venkatesh, Music by Vijaya Bharati with editing by Srinivas P Babu. Suresh Mangalore and new talent Krishna Nayak from Mangalore and Ratnavati as making their debut along with Raghav Ullal, Lakshman and Jyothi in the star-cast.