It’s destination Mysuru for Sandalwood talent

With the announcement of the lead pair of Indrajit Lankesh’s new film Luv U Alia, one thing is for sure, Sandalwood still continues to bank on Mysuru as its best bet for Kannada talent. From the time of Dr Rajkumar, Dr Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh to the new lot — including current heartthrob Yash and well as Sathish Ninasam of Lucia fame — Mysuru has been a big scouting ground for budding actors.
Filmmakers and actors believe that it is Mysuru’s love for culture and the arts that makes it such a good breeding ground for talent.Added to that, the fact that most of the population still converses in Kannada, unlike cosmopolitan Bengaluru, is a reason why people place their bets on talent from there.
Filmmaker SV Rajendra Singh Babu, whose family hails from Mysuru, says, “Mysuru is the actual hub for the Kannada film industry. At one point, not just the Kannada industry, but even Tamil and Hindi stars like MGR and Raj Kapoor used to rely on the city and its talent. The city is a hub for drama and music. I still believe the industry wrongly moved to Bengaluru and I’m in favour of it shifting back to its original hub. Take a look at the biggest names in our industry — be it Dr Rajkumar, Dr Vishnuvardhan or Ambareesh and not to forget innumerable technicians — they all have roots in Mysuru, which shows the importance that the region has in the history of our film industry.”
Indrajit has a history of introducing local talent in his films — be it Deepika Padukone or Vasundara Das — only to be told that they were not local enough. For his latest venture Luv U Alia, the director was hell-bent on ensuring that he had talent on board that everyone would relate to. “Kannada movies have a history with Mysuru. The language of Kannada movies is the old Mysuru language. If you see the films of the 70s, Mysuru is the backdrop for all of them, making the city the nucleus of Sandalwood,” says Indrajit, adding, “Mysuru has an advantage in terms of culture and creativity. Theatre continues to thrive in Mysuru, and hence, we have a lot of young actors from there, with solid acting prowess. What worked for Chandan — the hero I’m introducing in Luv U Alia — is that he spoke the universal Kannada of Mysuru, and was trained in theatre too.”
Actor Dhananjaya, who has studied in Mysuru and is currently working with filmmakers like Peeetham Gubbi, TS Nagabharana and AP Arjun, believes that the Palace City inspires anyone who has a slight artistic mind. “With the heritage buildings and the cultural hubs, there is enough scope for one to be inspired and flourish in arts. There are many cultural events throughout the year and there is support for all talented people. If one is in either of the three hubs — KAVA, Rangayana or Mysuru University — they gain knowledge and exposure of paramount importance. The other good thing about Mysuru is the fact that people in the city support films like no other place. If one looks at different places in Karnataka, then Mysuru is one region where most Kannada films do well. This is because the people here support their language and want it to grow,” says Dhananjaya.