Bisi Bisi Ice-Cream’s Gopalkrishna Deshpande says ‘Call me Manto, not Mahantesh’

A couple of weeks ago, Kahi maker Arvind Sastry had launched the trailer of his upcoming film Bisi Bisi Ice Cream, which, until then, no one had any inkling was under production. The film is led by Aravinnd Iyer, who plays a cab driver, but the story is more about who and what he is as a person than it is about his profession. Also playing major roles are Gopalkrishna Deshpande and Siri Ravikumar, and today, the team has released the former’s character introduction.

Gopalkrishna plays Mahantesh, a pimp, who takes offence to being called by his given name. He prefers Manto, instead, a chosen name that he’s proud of and goes out of his way to correct anyone and everyone who calls him Mahantesh. Being averse to an old-fashioned name is something that Gopalkrishna could relate to.

Arvind Sastry’s Bisi Bisi Ice Cream brings together a cab driver, an escort and a pimp 

In a special video about Mahantesh aka Manto, Gopalkrishna speaks about having an inferiority complex about his name, as it felt old-school, while his father was Dhruvaraj that could be shortened to Dhruva. Manto, he says, has a similar complex, which the actor found interesting.

Introducing the character, the official description of Manto was that he’s super suave, uber quirky and the most colourful one in the world of Bisi Bisi Ice Cream. Manto, it said, is wise yet conniving, funny yet menacing. Siri is a high end escort who does not have a name in the film, presumably ‘handled’ by Manto. The film’s major narrative follows what happens to Aravinnd’s character when a mysterious girl comes into his life.

Bisi Bisi Ice Cream should be in theatres shortly, although the team is yet to announce a potential release date. During the trailer launch, Arvind had said that the team was in the process of getting the film censored.

Arvind had earlier directed a film produced by Sharmiela Mandre with her and Sathish Ninasam in the lead, which was first called Vytharani and then Dasara and has, since, not been heard of. The team is likely to revert to the first title or choose another, as Nani’s Dasara (2023) will be the one associated with that name.