Anup Bhandari directed Rangitaranga Kannada movie to release soon
Joining the list of young movie directors in the country is our city’s own Anup Bhandari. Having graduated in Information Science from Vidya Vikas College of Engineering in city, Anup has been successful in fulfilling his dream of directing a full-fledged Kannada movie.
A resident of Siddarthanagar in Mysuru, Anup has drawn inspiration from his father Sudhakar Saaja (Sudhakar Bhandari), who is involved in the industry for more than 30 years. Anup developed his interest in music at a young age. In fact, Anup is also gifted with a good voice.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, Anup said that his interest to direct a movie developed when he was working on a movie script written by his father.
On getting a nod from his father, Anup engrossed himself in the movies and directed short films while working for a software company in the US. In fact, one of his short films, ‘Words,’ starring Oscar-nominee Russel Harvard of ‘There Will Be Blood’ fame has been screened in many International Film Festivals.
Anup said that Sudhakar Saaja, his father, helped him in handling the production department so that he could concentrate on the creative part of the movie more efficiently. Another specialty of the movie is that Nirup Bhandari, Anup’s younger brother, is being launched as the lead actor.
Nirup Bhandari, who is also a software engineer by profession, has undergone rigorous training in acting from MISFIT, a Bengaluru-based acting school and has also learnt hip-hop from Sridharan Pillai. After having done theatre for about three years, Nirup is being launched through Rangitaranga directed by Anup Bhandari.
Anup said that Nirup was not the first choice for the movie and that he had approached actor Rakshith Shetty for the role. As Rakshith was not available for the next three months, H.K. Prakash, producer of the movie, decided to launch Nirup as the lead character. Prakash had also seen Nirup’s acting skills in a tele-serial ‘Advocate Arjun’ directed by Sudhakar Saaja where he played a character of a psychopathic killer.
Any new director would have chosen a mass-movie subject, mixed with commercial elements, but Anup has preferred to launch himself with a movie filled with mystery and commercial elements. On asking the reason for choosing mystery as the subject, Anup said that he was always interested in mysteries and wanted to bring a new dimension to Kannada movies.
For Anup, it has not been easy working for a movie over the past one-and-a-half years. Neetha, his wife and Nishka, his three-year-old daughter, have been living in the US and Neetha continues to work in a software firm.
Anup added that he travelled to the US once in every 3-4 months to meet his wife and daughter or they would come down to India to visit him. Anup’s mother Rathna Bhandari has also been supporting him in all his endeavours.
Sudhakar Bhandari, who has been looking into the production of ‘Rangitaranga,’ said that initially he never wanted his sons to enter the film industry. In his words, “I never wanted to put all the eggs in the same basket.”
Sudhakar added that though he gave his approval for Anup’s entry into the film industry, he had apprehensions over Nirup’s entry into films. “Before deciding on Nirup, we consulted many seniors in the industry to seek their opinion and guidance. Only when we received a positive opinion to cast a new face in the movie, we decided on launching Nirup in the lead role. Moreover, it was producer H.K. Prakash who wanted to launch Nirup,” he added. Sudhakar also remembered the support extended by Sai Kumar, who is popularly known as ‘Dialogue King’ in Kannada Film Industry. With the trio, father and sons, having worked hard to bring a new dimension into the movie, we hope Rangitaranga is received well by the audience.
— S.N. Venkatnag Sobers
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Friday – February 27th, 2015