Nanage Neenu from Upadhyaksha brings Chikkanna’s romantic hero to the fore

Kannada cinema’s popular comedian Chikkanna is now a bonafide leading man. The actor made the transition to hero with Upadhyaksha, the sequel to Adhyaksha, in which he had played second fiddle to Sharan. Directed by Anil Kumar, Upadhyaksha takes Chikkanna’s character from Adhyaksha into a new tale, which plays out pretty much the same way as the earlier film, including the love story with the daughter of Shivarudre Gowda (P Ravi Shankar).

The film, produced by Umapathy Srinivas Gowda was a commercial hit, with Chikkanna’s trademark comedy being its biggest draw. Now that its theatrical run has ended, the OTT outing may not be far off, in the run up to which the team has just released a full video song called Nanage Neenu from the film. Featuring Chikkanna and Malaika Vasupal, this romantic number by Vijay Prakash and Rakshitha Suresh and composed by Arjun Janya, has the lead pair getting all lovey-dovey and busting a few moves as well.

Upadhyaksha was not the first film that Chikkanna was approached to play the lead in, but it is only now that everything fell in place for him to make that transition. During the promotions of the film, the actor was quoted as saying that he faced severe criticism and humiliation from various quarters about his debut as leading man.

In fact, years ago, during the making of Masterpiece, Rocking Star Yash, who was instrumental in giving Chikkanna’s career a push, had said that he hoped that the latter would never make the switch to leading man, as the Kannada film industry is in dire need of capable supporting artistes like him. However, when Chikkanna eventually made the transition, Yash was the forefront of those who came in support of the actor’s decision.

Upadhyaksha trailer – Chikkanna's debut as leading man promises to be fun 

Meanwhile, Chikkanna, we hear, has not ruled out doing supporting roles in upcoming projects and that he is not hung up about only doing films as a leading man.