Success is strange. The same people who act as stepping stones try to push you down when you reach the pinnacle. A section of the regional language press has launched a venomous attack on Yograj Bhat and his “Gaali Pata”. A local daily tore the film to shreds on the front page and the tabloids have gone into a tizzy. Yograj is unfazed. The fact that he’s not retaliating has added fuel to the fire. “I’ve never claimed that my films are great works of art,” says the reticent director. The film incidentally is a huge hit.
Teenagers are swarming the theatres and enjoying Ganesh’s banter. It’s an unpretentious, feel good film. At least the screen’s not bathed in blood and there are no scenes to make you squirm in your seat. Yograj hopes that families who wait for the euphoria to die start streaming in too. Right now the director, along with his wife, is at an ayurvedic rejuvenation centre. “You feel like fleeing this place,” says Yograj after four days of just carrot juice. “You tend to sleep well thanks to the tiredness, but God save you if you wake up in the middle of the night.” What’s saved him is the stack of DVDs he’s carried along. “Some of the foreign language films I watched were fascinating,” sighs the director who’s still clueless about what he’s going to do next. Hopefully a clean body and a clear mind will inspire him to make a film that’ll see him flying high again.
*** “Duniya” Vijay wanted to do something significant on his birthday instead of partying and promptly helped a young girl suffering from a major heart problem. He heard about the kid’s condition when he went to attend a function at Udupi and volunteered to help. She’s recuperating well and Vijay is beaming.
He’s already financially adopted a kid whose hands were severed in an accident.
His fans, though, could not be stopped from taking a massive cake to the sets of his controversial film being directed by Ravi Belagere. He had his face smeared and his mouth stuffed by enthusiastic fans. Vijay starts work on “Slum Bala”, another slice from ‘Agni’ Sreedhar’s tome “Dadagiriya Dinagalu”. It’s about a rowdy who helps the people inhabiting his slum.
Then there’s “Putta” directed by Om Prakash in which he plays an auto driver.
*** Charisma is an enigma. The reasons cannot be explained or dissected. You don’t know whether it’s the persona or the characters he portrays. I’m talking about ‘Golden Star’ Ganesh. Here’s a short, squat guy with a perpetual stubble and mane that hasn’t met a comb. No bulging biceps or pumped up pectorals but the girls have taken to him like he’s the last of the male species. You can waste words trying to explain or question his success but the fact is that today he’s a phenomenon. He just has to realise that it’s ephemeral, keep his head firmly on his shoulder and savour it till it lasts.
