Exclusive! My cameo in S Mahendar’s comeback Pampa is the soul of the film: Krishnaa Bhat

On September 9, director S Mahendar’s comeback film, Pampa, releases in theatres. Among the film’s ensemble cast is young actress Krishnaa Bhat. “Pampa is a film that I shot for right after my minor role in the late Puneeth Rajkumar’s Raajakumara. It was my first ‘important’ role, an opportunity to work with stalwarts from Kannada cinema, when I was fresh out of college. In fact, it was way before my lead debut Savarnadeergha Sanghi happened,” says Krishnaa, who now lives in Mumbai.

The daughter of actor Ravi Bhat and niece of actress Vinaya Prasad, Krishnaa, who was last seen onscreen as Keerthy Suresh’s friend in the Mahesh Babu-starrer Sarkaru Vaari Paata, is still thrilled that Pampa is eventually getting its date with audiences. “I had to audition for my role in Pampa. Aditya Shetty, who is also in the film, and I were called to a studio in Bengaluru and we had to do a look test, as well as enact a couple of scenes. At the time, I had no idea that so many people were associated with the film, like Keerthi Bhanu, Sangeetha Sringeri, Raghava Nayak, Renuka, Srinivas Prabhu, Ravi Bhat, Hejjajji Mahadev, among others. But, most importantly, what struck me is that it has music by Hamsalekha sir,” she says.

Krishnaa adds that she got super lucky with this role. “I am actually only doing a cameo in the film, but my role is that of the heroine who appears in flashback portions. The leading lady of the film is Sangeetha, but my role is in a flashback of the male lead, Keerthi Bhanu, an elderly Kannada professor. Aditya plays his younger version and I am Saraswati, his lady love from back then. Saraswati is the reason he is inspired to get into learning Kannada. This cameo, I would say, is the soul of the movie because it comes at a juncture when the hero is at cross-roads and rethinks his life, which is what makes him what he is today. Saraswati is the reason for that. There is a nice scene and a cute song. Madan and Harini choreographed the song composed by Hamsalekha sir. We shot in Thirthahalli during the monsoon, so everything is lush and green and looks so beautiful,” she says.

The film releases on a day that has multiple other Kannada movies vying for a share of the box office, as well as the Hindi magnum opus Brahmastra. “The team has been waiting in the wings to give the film an audience for almost four years, so they grabbed the opportunity they got,” she signs off.