Art & Entertainment

Where's My Girl?

Kannada thriller by techie brothers sets B-O on fire

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Where's My Girl?
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Kannada Calling

  • Rangi Taranga is the first Kannada film to figure in NYT's box office list, makes around Rs 3 cr in US
  • It's a multiplex hit despite having to take on medieval blockbuster Bahubali

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Anup Bhandari is a techie who gave up writing code to hack his way intao the big screen. In early July last year, as his Kannada film Rangi Taranga was nearing its release date, Bhandari, 33, says he’d have been happy to see his maiden venture as director run for 25 days. “People around us kept saying these kind of movies don’t work,” he says. But Rangi Taranga, a thriller that unravels the mystery of missing women in a remote, picturesque village, has gone on to become one of the biggest hits in Kannada in recent years. It’s still running in multiplexes nearly six months after its release. And, it was also the first Kannada film to figure in the New York Times weekend box office list (No. 27 in August when it opened in the US).

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“When we released, there was a myth that Kannada movies don’t run in multiplexes. But it was the biggest hit ever in Kannada in multiplexes, with over 5,000 shows,” says Anup, who is now scripting his next film. The success didn’t come easy. The team had got the jitters when the multi-lingual blockbuster Bah­u­bali was released, bec­a­­use many theatres pulled their film out just when it was gathering pace, says pro­ducer H.K. Prakash. “It was only from the fifth week that the film picked up again,” he says. In the new year, it's still playing in three multiplexes in Bangalore. What’s more, it has opened up the US market for Kannada films with collections of some Rs 3 crore. Says Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures, “Rangi Taranga has had an unprecedented run at the box office. It’s one of the first Kannada productions to involve Hollywood technicians.”

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It all started a little over two years ago, when Anup was on assignment with Infosys in Connecticut. By then, he’d already made a few short films for contests, including one (with Russel Howard) shot in New York City in 2010. It was here that he met Lance Kaplan, the cinematogr­apher who filmed Rangi Taranga. Anup’s brother Nirup Bhandari, 30, also a techie, who played the lead in the film has been part of all his short films, working on the scripting, post-production and even acting in them. He’s been getting a lot of offers since the maiden hit, but the duo plan to be selective about what they pick up. Of course, Nirup will play the lead in Anup’s new venture. “I did get a lot of offers, but Anup and I had already worked on a script and we had deci­ded we would make it after Rangi Taranga. When I work with Anup, I also work as his associate director so I’m involved in each phase,” says Nirup, who used to work with software company SAP till recently.

Like his brother, Nirup was always interested in films and was preparing himself to be an actor (he was taking acting and dance classes after work, spending weekends at the theatre and always looking for film-making tutorials). “We would watch lots of movies. In a year, I would watch 200-300 films. Anup would probably watch around 500 and we would share things of interest,” he says. Rangi Taranga was shot when Nirup was on leave from work.

The siblings have a connection with the TV industry too—their father Sudhakar Saja is a well-known TV serial maker. Indeed, Rangi’s plot had bits woven in from Guddadha Bhootha, a popular TV series from the 1990s, including its title song, “Dennana...dennana.” While it wasn’t easy making the shift to full length films, Anup reckons it’s a good time to be in the industry, especially with the new wave in regional cinema in the south (which Kan­nada films like Lucia and Ulidavaru Kandanthe represent).

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Incidentally, Anup wasn’t the first choice to play the lead in Rangi Taranga. “You know how the market comes into play. We wanted to play a bit safe,” says Nirup. At that time, Rakshit Shetty had just come onto the scene with Simple Agi Ondhu Love Story, but he happened to be busy with other projects. “We decided not to wait and start with the film. That’s how I was asked to audition,” he says.

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