I want class audiences to watch Kannada cinema

Actor-director Hemanth Hegde is all set to release his latest film, the much-delayed Nimbe Huli, this summer. BT catches up with the actor-director, who talks about the controversies that cropped up during the making of the film, his struggles and how he plans to bring back the middle-class audience to watch Sandalwood movies in theatres. Excerpts…
Nimbe Huli is finally releasing.What caused the delay? We’d finished nearly 90% of the film’s shoot last year in a 45-day schedule. Following that, there were problems with one of my leading ladies. She caused a few months’ delay. Later, veteran actor Anupam Kher, who was to do a role in the film, and I had date issues, which caused further delay. Eventually, we shot for Anupam’s role with Ramesh Bhat. You recently had to face the wrath of the Sri Rama Sene. What happened? My film has a song, the lyrics of which go, Rama Rama Sri Rama, First Nightalle Traffic Jama. They felt I was insulting god. But this is a situational song with the protagonist, whose name is Sriram, in the film. It ended up being a controversy for nothing, if you ask me. Fortunately for you, the music seems to have done well... Yes, the songs have been a hit on video-sharing sites. And I’ve had good support from my producer Subhash Ghai and his production house Mukta Arts. You seem to be quite happy with working with Mumbai producers and actors. Your previous film, Housefull, was also produced by a Mumbai-based production house… I find the way a Mumbai production house works very corporate and systematic. They look at films as their only business and are involved in it right from the start to the finish, which also includes marketing. Has this learning happened after your stint in Bollywood making Khanna And Iyer? How did that detour to Bollywood happen? Actually, my journey to Bollywood wasn’t easy. People think I got to make my film for Subhash Ghai very easily. On the contrary, it was a two-year struggle, the first in my career. I quit acting for TV to do films, when I was a top television actor. My first Kannada film came to me quite easily. I thought Bollywood too would be a cakewalk. I was to make a film for a big Bollywood producer in Kannada featuring Upendra. But, the producer backed out at the last minute, as he got cold feet and thought he may not recover his money. He called me to Mumbai to make a Hindi film for him instead. I was very excited. When I went there, he showed me a semi-porn English film and asked me to make that in Hindi. I was shocked and said no. He was surprised and said that films like Murder were doing well and that it would be a good break for me. I declined and was almost on my way back to Bangalore. At this time, the same producer called me back to remake one of his old films Teri Meherbaniyan, which featured dogs. I said to myself, a film about dogs is better than porn and accepted it. But, this film too was shelved midway. Luckily, in this process I met Subhash Ghai. These two years of my life saw me face hardship for the first time in my showbiz career. But, you’re now branded as a ‘Bombay Director’ in Sandalwood. What is that? A ‘Bombay Director’ is someone who likes to show his heroines as glamorous, and doesn’t just opt for gaudy stuff. His hero and heroine dine at five-star restaurants in the film. This change makes local makers feel insecure and hence we are branded with these names. So, you’re saying you want to bring a change in Sandalwood? If you look at the middle-class audience today, very few of them opt for a Kannada film for their movie outings. Most makers prefer to cater their films to the mass audience. They assume the ‘class’ audience doesn’t watch Kannada films. But, it is the same Sandalwood audience who lapped up films in the 70s, 80s and 90s. My aim is to bring back this audience to the cinema halls, and with a film like Nimbe Huli, in which I’ve brought in humour similar to that used by Rohit Shetty and his ilk in Bollywood.