Gowdru Hotel retains the flavour of Ustad Hotel, with some added spices: P Kumar

There is a general notion that making a remake is one of the easiest forms of cinema, something that director

P Kumar

is keen on dispelling. The filmmaker’s latest offering is the Kannada version of the National Award-winning Malayalam film,

Ustad Hotel

, aptly called

Gowdru Hotel

here. The film introduces newbie

Rachan Chandra

in the lead, along with veterans like Ananth Nag, Prakash Raj and heroine Vedhika.
In a quick chat with us, Kumar tells us what makes his version a must-watch this week and why he rates it as one of his best works.
“The original film, written by Anjali Menon and directed by Rosshan Andrrews, was rather slow paced and was all about social messages. My first job was to ensure that I do not spoil the flavour of Ustad Hotel, while adding just the right amount of spices to give our version a local touch. Gowdru Hotel, in that sense, is a pucca commercial film with the right amount of drama, emotion, songs and fights, making it perfect for audiences of all age groups,” says the director, adding that he hopes that the makers of the original will like his version.
One of the first things that Kumar did was to work on the pace of the film. Then, considering that he had Yuvan Shankar Raja on board as music director, he decided to make the most of it. “Ustad Hotel had no duet, but we adjusted the screenplay to include one as we had fantastic music options by Yuvan. Also, since we were introducing Rachan as a character who fights against societal evils, we needed an action sequence to establish that, without making it look forced on the proceedings,” he says. The fact that he had seasoned actors like Ananth Nag, Prakash Raj and Vedhika in the lead also made working on this film a breeze for Kumar. “Prakash, quite literally, steals the show in every scene that he is in, while Vedhika lights up the screen with her presence. Ananth Nag is in a completely different league altogether and working with him was quite a learning experience for me. Even though Rachan is a newbie, he picked up tricks of the trade soon enough. Acting is no rocket science. An actor just needs to have common sense, not be afraid of the camera, and yet be aware of it. To get that in place, Rachan attended a workshop before we began the actual shoot, for which Vedhika also joined us,” explains the director.