Triple treat for Kannada moviegoers

Three Kannada films will fight it out this Friday at the box office. They are Krishna Nee Lateag Baro, Khiladi Krishna and Parole. 

Renowned flutist Praveen Godkhindi is making his debut in commercial Kannada films with this week's release Krishna Nee Lateag Baro.

"With the word Krishna in the title, it was only apt for flute to dominate the film's music. And Praveen being a talented flutist, we chose him to compose the music," says Mohan who has both directed and acted in the film.

Calling this film a musical comedy, he says that Praveen has elevated each of his scenes. "In fact there are 15-20 scenes where there are no dialogues but music only." 

Praveen says he took up this project to show the world that even classical musicians can find a place in popular cinema. He has composed music for art films such as Vimukthi, Shankarapunyakoti and Ugragaami among others.

"Before classical singers were given priority, however, today producers are apprehensive about signing us. This is sad as it is classical singers who are actually more technically equipped."

The freedom given to him to compose fusion music was another reason for taking up the project, he says and adds, "Indian classical ragas have been supported by western instruments."

There are five full length songs and two bit songs. Praveen himself has sung the title track. "All the songs are melodious and we have used only singers from Karnataka in this film," he says. Reputed singers LN Shastry and Shankar Shanbhag have rendered a jugalbandhi.  

This film has Ramesh Arvind, Neethu, Nidhi Subhaiha and Mohan in the lead.

It is the story of a lone male lecturer in a women's college.

While Neethu will sport a glamorous look, Nidhi has gone deglam for the film. "I play Lakshmi, who is a one man woman. She is a very religious person. I also have a comedy track and start singing Shivappa kayo tande every time I hear a train pass by! Watch the film to find out why," says Nidhi. 

The 30-minute climax is the highpoint of the film according to the team as the entire scene has been shot in a swimming pool, with over 25 artistes in it. This film highlights the difference between love and infatuation.

The second film in the list is Khiladi Krishna, starring Vijay Raghavendra, Tejaswini, Dilip Raj and Shivaram in key roles.

The film is about how a father wanting to marry his daughters off to rich men, lands up being conned by two middle class men.

While one marries one of the daughters pretending to be an officer, when he is only a clerk, the other finds a place in the family as a far relative and lures the other girl. The message is clear -- character of the groom should matter and not his bank balance.

This film too has seen a delay in release like most of the just released films and director Jayanth blames it on the non-availability of theatres.

"Even now we may have to release the film in Movie land, which usually shows Telugu films. Each week more than two films are releasing and thus the non-availability," he adds.

If you are fans of realistic cinema, then Parole is right up your alley.

The film is based on real incidents that were reported in newspapers. "I read about a criminal who committed a crime when he was out on parole. I was then intrigued about the idea of parole and felt like making a film on it," says director Rajashekar.

A Jayanagar twin murder case that was solved after tracing a mobile call and a Channapatna murder case that was cracked by a police officer with the help of a chit he found on the murder site also find a place in the film.

"I interacted with officers involved in these cases during the script process. While a large part of the film is based on real incidents, the climax is a figment of my imagination," the director adds. Apparently two climax sequences were shot and the best one was incorporated during the editing time.

Parole stars Pradeep, Vishwas, Supritha, Likith, Suraj, Sharath, Rani and Krutika in the lead. Kishore plays an intelligent police officer while Ananya Kasarvalli, a big name in the television industry, plays a journalist. B Suresh will also be essaying a role.

Speaking about his experience in the film, Pradeep says, "I play a rough and tough guy in the film and have trained for 45 days in Chennai for this. The story centres around four medical students who commit a mistake."

Recalling his most memorable experience on the sets he adds, "I was suffering from high fever but had to report for the shoot as postponing it would have meant a loss of Rs 6 lakhs. My sombre mood however worked to my advantage as I was to shoot for a song with pathos!"

There are a few incidents that Pradeep is in denial about as well. One was where a criminal escaped from jail in the guise of a film crew member and the other was a fight involving his co-stars and him.

"But I fight only for the cameras, so nothing like that happened. As for the escape, it supposedly happened on the day I was not shooting and I don't have much information," he says. 

Rajashekar however admits to a few untoward incidents and prefers to forget it. We hope the final product is worth all the trouble!