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Kannada director hunting for new faces

After delivering meaningful and entertaining cinema in Savaari and Prithvi, director Jacob Vergeese is getting ready for his next venture. Little is known about the plot, but like Prithvi, this film is set to push technical standards in the Kannada industry a notch higher.

The director is yet to finalise the cast and is said to be looking for fresh faces. Auditions were held quietly in Bangalore and Mysore. The cast is expected to include newbies alongside a star or two. Nithya Menon who got enough mileage in the youth caper Josh is said to be under consideration for one of the female leads.

There are plans of making the film in Telugu as well. Mumbai based producers are funding the project.

Darshan in Bodyguard remake

Darshan is a busy man, flops notwithstanding. Among his upcoming films, the most anticipated are Sangollirayana and Bulbul. Bulbul will bring Telugu industry's 'it girl' Kajal Agarwal to Kannada films.

Darshan has also been approached to play the lead role in Mahesh Sukadhare's remake of the Malayalam film Bodyguard. Sukadhare has directed films such as Sambrahma and Sainika. His latest film, Malle Bille, sank without a trace at the box office, so it remains to be seen if Darshan is the goose that lays the golden egg for Sukadhare.

The 2010 hit film Bodyguard is in much demand. The romantic comedy is being remade in Hindi with Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead. Vijay and Asin were cast in the Tamil remake Kaavalan. The film has been remade in Telugu as well with Venkatesh in the lead. The Malayalam version had Nayanthara and Dileep in the lead.

Lakshmi's special song

The shooting of the song Kummu Kummu Kammana from the film Lakshmi, starring Shivrajkumar and Priyamani, is now complete. It was picturised in Rockline Studios and along with the lead pair, 15 models and 35 junior artistes perform in the song.

Cameraman K S Chandrashekar has shot the song in green mat. The Harry Alexia camera used to shoot it makes it easy to add graphics. The other advantage of this camera is that there is a provision to change backdrops five or six times, giving the song a new look each time. Gurukiran is the music director.

The unit will be travelling to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau. About 50 percent of the shooting is complete and the film is expected to release in August.