Adarsh Eshwarappa’s next inspired by Puttanna Kanagal

After his 2017 debut flick, the women-centric film Shuddhi, Adarsh H Eshwarappa is ready with the script of his next — a tribute to Puttanna Kanagal. Adarsh finished scripting the psychological thriller just two weeks ago and says that this one promises to be disturbing and dark, but in a good way. “It gives work to your mind and affects you emotionally as well,” says Adarsh about the film.When we prod him further, he tells us, “The film will be a complete tribute to Puttanna Kanagal, and is influenced by his film, Sharapanjara. It will be like what happens if Christopher Nolan and David Fincher get together to give a tribute to Puttanna — with the darkness of Fincher and the screenplay style of Nolan.”
For his second film, Adarsh will be working in part with the technical team of Shuddhi, which includes sound designer Nithin Lukose and DOP Andrew Aiello. Auditions for the main actors — the film will only have 6-7 characters in total — are slated to begin next month, followed by rehearsals, after which shooting should begin by April-May; the movie, which will be around 1.5 hours long, is set to release by the end of the year. And like Shuddhi, there will be no songs in his second film as well, but Adarsh explains that throughout the movie, Puttanna’s popular songs will play in the background, such as in the car or on radio. But unlike Shuddhi, it will be shot entirely in Karnataka.
Adarsh lists Dharani Mandala Madhyaodalage and Sharapanjara as his favourites, but his second film did not start off as being inspired by the legendary filmmaker. “I didn’t know what lay ahead after Shuddhi, and was looking for different stories. Believe it or not, I woke up from sleep one day with this concept; the whole story played out in my head in three hours. The film actually started out as a horror, and over the five months it took to write the film, it took a different route and turned out to be influenced by Puttanna’s films and his choice of subjects,” Adarsh signs off.