A Kannada film made in 18 hours

History was made in the Kannada film industry on October 11, when a full length feature film Sugreeva was shot in just 18 hours.

The activities started at four in the morning. All the artists and technicians working for the film assembled at the shooting venue and were ready by 5 am.

Sixty sequences were shot by 10 well-known directors using 10 experienced cameraman like Om Prakash Rao, Pramod Chakravarthy, Maadesh and P N Sathya, 20 cameras, nearly 300 skilled and non skilled workers and script assistants, and thousands of artists.

Director Prashanth who made the Malayalam film Bhagawan last year with Mohan Lal in 19 hours is the man behind this venture.

The story of the film revolves around a happily married mechanic hijacking a hospital to save his son who is suffering from heart disease. The story is written by the creative team of Anaji films while the screenplay is written by actor-director Pramod Chakravarthy. Ram Narayan has written the dialogues. Music and background score has been composed by Guru Kiran.

Shivaraj Kumar, who acted as the mechanic, was extremely cool and showed no signs of any tension. His energy levels were high throughout the eighteen hours of the shoot, and peaked when he participated in a fight sequence inside the hospital.

Yagna Shetty of Eddelu Manjunatha was ecstatic about her emotionally filled role, and said that October 11 will remain an unforgettable day in her career.

Artists were seen changing their costumes as they moved from one place to another for the shoot. Many directors were able to finish their portions early, but they were seen waiting for Shivaraj Kumar to shoot his scenes as he was needed in all places.

Production managers with walkie-talkies had a harrowing time managing the artists for the eight different locations. A special sequence of the film was also shot in a reality show set in Kengeri, where Shivaraj Kumar, Yagna Shetty, Master Chiranjeevi, music director Guru Kiran, actor Spoorthi and nearly two hundred junior artists participated.

At 11.55 pm on October 11, noted Kannada film director Om Prakash Rao completed the lighting portions of the last shot outside the Raja Rajeshwari Hospital on the busy Bangalore-Mysore highway near Kengeri.

Even after working from 4 am, the director did not show any signs of fatigue. He kept giving instructions to the unit members enthusiastically.

Yagna Shetty, child artist Chiranjeevi and the other artists were given instructions about their movements. Chiranjeevi was on a stretcher and the lesser known artists wearing the hospital uniform were moving along with Yagna Shetty towards the hospital's main entrance. When the closed doors stared at Yagna Shetty, she broke down in front of the camera.

'Cut', said the director. The whole unit jumped with joy, lifted Om Prakash Rao and cheered him.

At the other venue, in the same hospital and around the same time, director Raghava Loki was shooting an intense sequence in a set which looked like an ICU unit. Shivaraj Kumar was speaking to the doctor in an emotional voice.

Chief director Prashanth was also present giving instructions to the technical unit. The shot was okayed in the first take itself, and Shivaraj Kumar and the entire team started singing loudly.

The film's producer Anaji Nagaraj had the last word. "It is God's blessings and the hard work put in by the entire team which made this stupendous achievement possible. Shivaraj Kumar has ultimately proven that he is the most dynamic and energetic actor in the Kannada film industry. His entire family members were there to encourage all of us. People from different walks of life were there to witness the efforts of more than one thousand film personalities."