Shivarajkumar on the need to facilitate the emergence of new-age cinema and the next generation of actors and technicians

Making a movie in Kannada is a big risk these days, what with there being no guarantee of a return on investment from theatres or otherwise, irrespective of the quality of the film. It’s why most people shy away from backing new talent. Century Star Shivarajkumar, though, is looking at taking this ‘risk factor’ head on with his home banner, Geetha Pictures, which is producing a film with his nephew Dheeren in the lead, to be directed by Shakhahaari director Sandeep Sunkad.

If one were to look at the economics of this combination – Dheeren debuted with Shiva 143, the Kannada remake of the Telugu film RX 100 , which failed at the box office, while Sandeep’s Shakhahaari, although critically-acclaimed, was not a major money spinner. In that sense, getting these two together for a film called Pabbar, is the classic definition of risk for Shivarajkumar.

Shivarajkumar: My only objective is to make good cinema; box office comes later

The Hattrick Hero, though, says that his only objective is to make good cinema. “We have to take on these risks if we want to compete with films from other languages. We need new-age movies for this, which have to be made without worrying about how it will perform at the box office at the onset; that’s a question for much later. If you don’t make an effort to stand up to the competition and give audiences good films, how will we move ahead?” he asked during a recent event.

More importantly, Shivarajkumar, who has been in the Kannada film industry for a tad under 4 decades says that it is imperative that a new generation of technicians and actors is given the opportunity to soar. “The next generation and next type of cinema has to come and we need to facilitate that. It gives me great joy to be associated with young filmmakers like Sandeep,” said Shivarajkumar.

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The Kannada star, whose last major release was his home production Bhairathi Ranagal , had a minor cameo in his daughter Niveditha Shivarajkumar’s maiden production Firefly. His next film is 45, the directorial debut of composer Arjun Janya, which also stars Upendra and Raj B Shetty. Shivarajkumar is currently working on the untitled 131st film, as well as Ram Charan’s Peddi. He’s also expected to return as Narasimha in Jailer 2.