I was taken aback. Had I strayed into the classroom of a girl’s college? Would I be assaulted and handed over to the cops? I shook my head and realised I had bought a ticket to watch the Golden Star Ganesh starrer, “Krishna”. It was a morning show on a weekday and the balcony was full of squealing girls with a backpack full of books eating out of ‘tiffin’ carriers lovingly packed by ignorant mothers.
Ganesh is the darling of today’s teenage girls. There’s a vulnerability in the characters he’s chosen which seems to have struck a chord. He’s neither handsome with unkempt hair and stubble nor well built but then fame always enhances physical appearance. “Krishna” borrows generously from a Tamil film starring Surya. Ganesh plays himself, the famous host of a TV show. The plot about a girl choosing a rich suitor to help her parents but wanting the hero back is narrated neatly.
The climax where the hero chooses the girl who loves him rather than the girl he loves is thankfully sans hysterics. Ganesh is efficient with his hallmark casual style of dialogue delivery. Pooja Gandhi looks jaded but Sharmila Mandre does a neat job. It’s an intelligent plot with the usual twists to suit Ganesh’s character. If he realises his limitations and makes prudent choices Ganesh can prolong this golden run.
The wild child of Kannada cinema Ramya being replaced in a film is not new, but we never get to hear her side of the story. “That’s because I’ve stopped trying to explain. The impression is always that I’m at fault,” says the diminutive star. Sso why was she dropped from Sudeep’s film directed by Gurudutt?
“I had told them that I could not give them dates at a stretch because I had to finish my Tamil films. Suddenly Sudeep was in a hurry and they pestered me for bulk dates. I opted out but they started saying I had shot for a day in Mysore which is a lie. I’ve returned their advance too. I agreed to do the film only because Gurudutt requested me as a friend. The film is the remake of a Tamil film in which the heroine has precious little to do. Anyway everything happens for the good,” says the star who’s in Kashmir shooting with Uppi for Rajendra Singh Babu’s film.
Dhanush, her co-star in ‘Polladhavan’ feels that with a little hardwork she will be recognised as a very good actress. “We’ve managed to extract an excellent performance from her,” says the star.
A film to be launched shortly by the editor of a weekly and host of a popular crime show on TV will be about a political family. The father is a former Prime Minister and the son is the current Chief Minister. The film is not about political intrigue, but dissects the CM’s dalliance with a starlet. No prizes for guessing who the protagonists are. Is this the masterstroke of political opponents or just a slice of sleaze?
S. SHIVA KUMAR
