Dhananjaya to launch a former courier agent as director

Actor Dhananjaya is set to take on a new tag —

Badava Rascal

. This will be the title of his first

production

, which will launch Shankar Guru, a former

courier service

agent, as director. The film is slated to take off around October. “Director Yogaraj Bhat had registered this title long ago, but he was gracious enough to give it to us, when he heard about our team,” says Dhananjaya, hinting that the title is also in many ways symbolic of their team, as it is of their story. He adds, “We are all badava rascals, so there was no way that Bhatru could have said no. Shankar is a former courier service agent, my fellow producer Gujjal Purushotham used to be a bartender, while I come from a family of agriculturists.”
The camaraderie that Dhananjaya and Shankar share stemmed from their first meeting during the making of Director’s Special. “It was around then that I got to know Dhananjaya and we share a similar passion towards films. I decided around then that I would make my first film only with him. I’m glad that it is with Badava Rascal. This is a story that most middle-class people will connect to. It could be anybody’s story and follows the journey of a youngster from a middle-class household, from the time he leaves college
and sets out to find financial stability as a young adult. This is when he is called badava rascal by everyone,” explains Shankar.
The debutant director adds that films happened to him around the time he was finishing his studies. “I come from a lower-middle class household in South Bengaluru. We didn’t have enough money for full-time college, so I used to work as a courier service agent and paid my way through evening college. In fact, I completed my degree during the time I began assisting Guruprasad. I consider him and filmmaker Ravindra HP Das as my gurus. It is from there that I have made other friends in the industry, like Dhananjaya,” says Shankar.
As for selecting this script as the first one to back, Dhananjaya says, “I do not want to make a routine film with a lot of fights and formulas. I’d rather make one that is of sound content and suits my sensibility. Shankar’s story fits the bill in that manner.”
When quizzed about how fans now have certain expectations of ‘Daali’ Dhananjaya, he says, “It is true that fans expect something from me. But the film industry is all about making and breaking an identity. I have signed on a few negative roles after Daali, but I also have Popcorn Monkey Tiger, which is very different. I do not want to get stereotyped.”
Shankar quickly adds, “Our film will give fans exactly what they want. Daali was negative, while the character here is positive and the situations and experiences he goes through are those that they can connect to on a more personal level.”
The film has Amrutha Iyengar, Poornachandra Mysore and Nagabhushan as part of the cast, while Vasuki Vaibhav will compose music. The team has roped in Preetha Jayaraman as the cinematographer.