Srujan Lokesh’s son in his directorial debut, GST; rare feat for Subbaiah Naidu family

Earlier this week, Kannada TV and cinema’s Talking Star Srujan Lokesh officially launched his debut directorial, Ghosts in Trouble (GST) , a horror comedy, which he will direct and co-produce with Sandesh Nagaraj of Sandesh Productions. Srujan will play the lead in the film, which will also star Rajani Bharadwaj and Niveditha Gowda, who makes her big screen debut with GST. Kannada rapper and composer Chandan Gowda, who is Niveditha’s husband as well, will score music for the film, which went on floors on Monday.

While Srujan has directorial experience of having handled several episodes of his hit show Majaa Talkies, his film GST, he says, is special not only on account of being his debut as a filmmaker. Srujan’s son Sukruth is in the film, making him the fourth-generation actor from the family. Talking at the muhurtha of the film, Srujan explained that in Bhakta Prahlada, which the late Subbaiah Naidu directed, produced and acted in, his son (and Srujan’s father), Lokesh was seen as a child artiste. Years later, when Lokesh produced, directed and acted in Bhujangayyana Dashavathara, he got Srujan on board as child actor. And now, Srujan is set to take this family tradition forward by having his son Sukruth act in his directorial debut GST (Ghosts in Trouble), which he is co-producing with Sandesh Nagaraj and acting in as well. Sukruth is the fourth-generation actor from the Subbaiah Naidu family. Srujan’s mother, veteran actress Girija Lokesh will also be seen in the film, and directing her is an opportunity the Talking Star said he will cherish forever.

Sukruth, meanwhile, has been in training of sorts with help from his entire family. After he wound up Majaa Talkies and concentrated on serving as judge on certain Kannada reality shows, Srujan had launched a YouTube channel for his production house, Lokesh Productions, on which he, his mother, sister Pooja Lokesh, wife Greeshma Srujan, have all been appearing as part of fun skits, many of which feature Sukruth as well.