Making paisa vasool movies is the motto of our banner

One of this week’s releases, Samhaara, is a comeback of sorts for the production banner, Manu Enterprises. “We have made and distributed quite a few Kannada films. In the past five years, though, I had put production on the backburner and focused on my other business interests. My partners, especially Niranjan, kept telling me that we should return to filmmaking, but everything fell into place only with Samhaara, as the subject really interested me.Our idea has always been to make entertainers that the audience not only appreciates but also finds as paisa vasool. After all, if they don’t come to theatres, we won’t get returns. In that sense, the script of this film seemed apt,” says A Venkatesh.
The film is, incidentally, also the launchpad for Venkatesh’s son, Manish. “There was a plan to launch Manish as a hero in Kannada cinema, but not in Samhaara. We thought that maybe we would make a film for him. When the shooting began in Mangaluru, we had not been able to finalize a particular actor for a pivotal role in the film that had to be shot there. Manish was lounging around on the beaches near the location and we wondered why not get him to do it. We did a photo shoot of him with Hariprriya and liked what we saw. Director Guru Deshpande was also keen on getting Manish onboard and that is how he became a part of the film,” he explains.
As the producer’s son, Manish says that his biggest advantage was that no one chided him even if he made multiple mistakes. “Jokes apart, working on Samhaara has been a great learning experience and everyone on the cast and crew was supportive and helped me do my best. I believe that this film is the right debut for me, even though it is not a solo-hero project. My objective is to have audiences take note of me and I think they will with this film,” says Manish, adding that the production team ensured that all he had to do was focus on his acting.
And, given their years of experience in distributing films, Venkatesh and his partners, Niranjan and R Sundar Kamraj, have taken it on themselves to bring Samhaara to theatres. “I have distributed nearly 350 films and have a fairly good network. On February 9, Samhaara will hit over 200 theatres across Karnataka and based on reports, we will then explore the possibility of an international release,” he signs off.