Interview: Priyamani is fabulously talented actress

What is Charulatha all about?
I would like to sum up Charulatha as a beautiful story of two sisters (Siamese twins or conjoined twins) who grew up together, and lived happy till their relationship is affected by love. When love enters their lives, their bond alters. The crux of the story is about the difficulties they face, and what happens when they get separated.

Was Priyamani the first choice for Charulatha or she was chosen considering her popularity in all South Indian languages.
The cinema was supposed to be produced in Tamil-Telugu and not in Kannada. That was the original idea when my friend Ramesh Murthy (Global One Studios) bought the rights two years back and Priyamani was his first choice. He had approached Priya for the same. Then, the script went to many big directors including Priyadarshan sir. Later, the plans got changed and it was decided to be made in Bollywood. Asin and Rani Mukherjee were also considered. However, the project was delayed for some reasons and when I was sent the DVD of the Thai movie Alone, I decided to produce the movie with Priya.

How was it working with Priyamani?
Priyamani had acted in my previous film Only Vishnuvardhana. She is a wonderful girl, very sincere, dedicated, and a genuine person. She is fabulously talented actress and very professional. I had always loved to work with her and I can suggest her name to any filmmaker who wishes to make a good film.

Does the Priyamani factor made you to make Charulatha a multilingual film?
The subject is universal. My friend Lokesh wanted to make it in Tamil-Telugu. But when we decided to make it, we were very clear on one thing that it will be made only in Kannada. The reason being my father made a film called Africa Dalli Sheela, which was in three languages, in 1984. Basically, the bilingual-trilingual rarely works, as it requires a lot of planning and adaptations. It is about connecting to the different nativities with one product. Firstly, we shot it only in Kannada. After completing the editing process, we were amazed with the production values and at the product. It made us to shoot in different languages.

You are introducing Malayalam actor Skanda to Kannada films.
Skanda is a Kannadiga. He is the grandson of politician Govinde Gowdru, the Education Minister in JH Patel regime. But he never got an opportunity to act in Sandalwood. If I am right, he was supposed to make his debut in Shashank directorial Moggina Manasu. But he met with an accident, and his leg got fractured. Finally, the role went to to Yash. He has done a wonderful job.

Are you releasing it worldwide?
Charulatha will have a big release. Hansraj Saxena's Sax Pictures, Allu Aravind's Geetha Arts and Vijay Kumar's Seven Arts have acquired the distribution rights of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions. They are all giants in this business and we are doing our best to reach out to the large audience.