Arjun Janya: I had no intention of turning director, but once I had a story in place, I felt it was right for Shivanna

Kannada cinema’s magical composer Arjun Janya recently announced his intention of turning filmmaker. His debut directorial, as it turns out, is going to be with Century Star Shiva Rajkumar and has been titled 45. At the moment, there is no timeline in place as to when the film will go on floors, as the actor has a slew of projects lined up.

Direction, though, says Arjun, was never on his agenda. His dream has always been to be a music composer and that is all he wanted to do, until, of course, an idea of a story took wing in his mind. “When I conceived the story of 45, it haunted me, in a good way, so, I narrated it to a few friends, all of who were surprised at the kind of tale I had come up with. They also felt that it was a good story that deserved to be brought to the big screen,” Arjun has been quoted as saying telling an online news portal.

Of late, the music man has been sharing judging duties with Shiva Rajkumar on a dance reality show, during the shoot of which he told the actor about the story and the role Arjun had in mind for hum. The composer gave Shiva Rajkumar a one-and-a-half-hour-long narration, at the end of which the actor also wondered how Arjun came up with a story like that.

Arjun was all set to give the story to any other director, provided Shiva Rajkumar is in the film, but the actor insisted that the composer should bring his vision to the screen. “Shivanna said that he was convinced that I could handle directorial duties based on the clarity that I had in my narration. That gave me the confidence to take on the mantle of direction,” Arjun added.