Loo and behold, a movie with a message

BANGALORE: Chief minister Siddaramaiah is not known to be a film buff. But on Monday he sat for over two hours to watch a movie that had a message on cleanliness and sanitation.
'Gandhiji Kanda Kanasugalu' (The Dreams of Gandhiji) also starred two of Siddaramaiah's cabinet colleagues — rural development and panchayat raj minister H K Patil and information technology minister S R Patil — playing themselves.
It helped that both ministers hail from North Karnataka since the movie aims to create awareness in rural areas on the need to construct toilets. H K Patil, too, watched the movie. Ramesh Parvinaikar, actor and zilla panchayat member from Naganur constituency in Bailhongal taluk of Belgaum district, has written, directed and produced the film, besides playing the lead role.
The film also stars Rupika, Gururaj Hoskote, Bank Janardhan, Umesh, Rekha Das, M M Laxmidevamma and Vaijanath Biradar. It has six songs, of which four render the message on sanitation and allay the misconceptions among villagers about toilets. The movie received good response when it was released on August 15 in north Karnataka. It is slated for release in Bangalore on October 17.
The story revolves around a software engineer and his love interest, a panchayat development officer, who convince stubborn villagers to get rid of their superstitious beliefs and construct toilets. The ministers motivate the protagonists to carry out their mission to spread Gandhi's message about cleanliness and Gram Swaraj. The film has clippings of Siddaramaiah's speeches.
"It's a good movie with a message," said Siddaramaiah. "It motivates people on cleanliness. Gandhi's dream and our vision also is to ensure clean villages. I appeal to the people to join hands with the government in the Nirmal Gram programme."
The Karnataka government has made toilets mandatory in all government scheme houses.