Get Ready For The New Auto Raja

Get your lowdown on what's happening in the Kannada film industry.

Auto Raja, that released in the 1980s was one of the best films of the late actor Shankar Nag. The Kannada film industry is now on the lookout for another actor to fit the title role.

Yes, a film titled Auto Raja will go on the floors soon and the public has been asked to choose the leading man through a poll.
Says director Uday Prakash: "It is not possible for anyone to fit into Shankar Nag's shoes, and that's not the intention either because my film has no connection with his film. Our film will centre on the love life of an auto driver and we have retained only the title. This will be a youthful entertainer and so we wanted the youth to choose the hero."

Conditions apply, though. The hero should not be an established actor nor should he be married. "We don't want to cast established heroes as they already have an image. And as we want youthful looking actors, we are insisting on an unmarried one," says Uday.

In the race for the lead role are Yash, Yogish, Diganth, Prajwal and Auditya. The makers have come up with a contest where movie buffs can vote for their favourite contender and win prizes on their website -- autoraja@sangroups.com

Their Bhimoo's Bang Bang Kids may have hit a road block, but Ramya and Upendra are facing the cameras together in Katari Veera Surasundarangi. The actors' last screen outing was Gowramma.

Katari Veera... is a comedy and shooting is currently on in Hyderabad.

Veteran actor Ambareesh plays the role of Yama in the film. Suresh Krishna, who has directed Jeshta and Kadamba, directs this film, too, with Munirathna as the producer.

Earlier there were rumours that Uppi and Munirathna would be getting together for the remake of the Malayalam film Udayananu Tharam.

Newcomer Sumanth Shailendra will undergo a litmus test this weekend. The actor's debut film Aata (Game) will hit theatres this Friday.

While this is his first attempt at acting, he is not new to the cinema industry. He is producer Shailendra Babu's son. Babu has produced several Upendra starrers, among them Gowramma, Kutumba and Dubai Babu. He is producing Aata as well.

The director is B N Vijaykumar, who directed Nanda Loves Nandita.

Aata highlights the relationship between parents and children. It talks mostly about the expectations parents have from their kids.

Sumanth plays Rahul, a football player with a winning streak. But will he emerge a winner in the game called life? 

Vibha Natarajan is the leading lady. Comedian Sadhu Kokhila has both acted in and composed music for the film.

The story is by Shashank and screenplay and dialogues by Vijaykumar.