Srujan Lokesh to go on floors with his debut directorial in March-April

It’s been well over four months since Kannada cinema’s Talking Star, Srujan Lokesh, announced his intention to turn director. In the time since, he has been fine-tuning the script, which is a horror-comedy that he came up with, and finalizing the cast and crew. “I’ve got everyone except the leading lady onboard. We are in the process of finalizing that as well and as soon as we have it locked, we should be able to go on floors. As of now, the plan is to get rolling by March-April, latest, before which I will officially announce the cast and crew that I am collaborating with on my debut directorial,” said Srujan, who is looking as lead actor of the film, while also handling the production and judging duties of his successful TV show, Nannamma Superstar Season 2.

Srujan, who turned producer with his last film, Ellide Illi Tanaka, is quite chuffed about this next step in his career. “I am quite used to directing myself for my TV shows, but this will be a different ball game and I am looking forward to that experience,” he said, adding that the only casting that he’s revealed and excited about is working with his mother, Girija Lokesh.

When he announced his directorial debut, Srujan had explained that the as-yet-untitled horror comedy is based on an idea that came to him from a dream he had during an afternoon siesta. He assures that despite the genre, the film will be a complete family entertainer. The film will have cinematography by HC Venu and music by Chandan Shetty. Srujan will produce the film under his home banner Lokesh Productions, along with Sandesh Nagaraj’s Sandesh Productions.

Since winding up his popular show Majaa Talkies, Srujan has been busy with judging duties on Raja Rani, Nannamma Superstar and Gicchigilligili. He has also launched the official YouTube channel of his production house, where he and his family have been doing a variety of slice-of-life fun videos, as well as cookery shows featuring his mother, wife Greeshma or sister Pooja.