New filmmakers are lending an innovative flavour to Kannada films: Sindhu S Murthy

Sindhu S Murthy has grown up watching Anant Nag’s films and also counts Good Will Hunting as one of her all-time favourite flicks. “So my outlook towards the films I wanted to make and be part of was set rather early in life. For me, it’s all about inclusivity and exploring different relationships. It’s not just about hero-heroine and romantic relationships.Movies have to delve into more than that and filmmakers must make space to include newer protagonists; it can be siblings, mothers, neighbours… there are so many characters waiting to be unravelled,” says Sindhu. It’s this thought process that led her to helm a film like Aachar & Co, in which a multitude of characters were highlighted. Sindhu’s upcoming assignment as an actor is also based upon a family and aptly titled Family Drama. She tells us more:
‘New directors are infusing a fresh flavour into the Kannada industry’
Sindhu’s upcoming film is being directed by a newcomer Akarsh HP. “I’ve had many offers come to me after Aachar & Co, but I said “sorry, it’s not a match.” The reason why I instantly liked this script was because it deals with family: a mother and her kids and each has their own back story. An artiste like Rekha Kudligi plays our mother and she isn’t the stereotypical mother who will shed a few tears and leave the space. Instead, she leads the pack and is a character with a great sense of humour. It kind of reminds me of the Anant Nag films we used to watch. There is a vatara (colony) with a lot of characters and they are not wholly positive, yet there is a moral stand without being in your face. The humour is not crass, yet you laugh at the sequence of events. This film took me back to those times and I completely identified with the role I am playing,” says Sindhu.
‘As an actor and director, I gravitate towards well-written roles’
Sindhu believes that the scope to develop beyond what you regularly see and how different one can be to give audiences a new experience is important. “I wouldn’t mind playing a romantic lead. I have recently done a Telugu film in which I play the female protagonist and it’s a romantic film. But at the same time, it’s a survival drama, so one gets to do a lot more than being a typical heroine,” she shares.
‘You don’t have to be a woman to write female characters well’
“The best examples for this would be Toby and Swathi Muttina Male Haniye. Raj Shetty captured a woman’s emotions so beautifully. Anyone who writes from a personal space and sees it from the character’s point of view, can definitely understand the mind of that person. You just have to put yourself in their shoes; you don’t have to be of that gender to etch that character,” sums up Sindhu.