"We can have Puneeth, Darshan and Sudeep in a film"

Over the past year and a half, Sandalwood has seen many multi-starrer films hitting the screens. Most of these are from the younger filmmakers, who have transcended beyond the commercial single hero masala capers and are making films that are more slice-of-life tales with characters that most common folk can relate to.
In the recent times, films like Aatagara, Kendasampige, Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu, Karvva and Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu have gone on to impress both the critics and audiences alike.These didn't have the traditional single hero/heroine approach, but the script and execution wooed the viewers. The coming months will see many more such films hit the screens. Leading the pack will be Tharun Sudhir's Chowka, Rohith Padaki's Dayavittu Gamanisi and Pannaga Bharana's Happy New Year. Adding the starry touch will be Suri's Tagaru and HS Sahana Murthy's Leader, both of which see Shivarajkumar as the hero, but also boast of an ensemble cast of known faces alongside him.
Tharun believes that the fault lies with the filmmakers. 'A few years ago, we had nine leads coming together for Navagraha. Following this, there haven't been many such scripts that demanded the casting of big names. Believe me, if there is a relevant script, one could easily have Sudeep, Darshan and Puneeth Rajkumar working together in a film. For instance, in my film, I could have easily cast four newcomers, but I wanted four established faces as the heroes. To my luck, they all agreed without much persuasion. This shows that there is a dearth of scripts that convince stars to work together. If we look at 2016, there have been many films that have been launched with multiple heroes and storylines. I think that this is what people can expect henceforth,' he adds.
Rohith also stresses that there is a myth that only single star films run. 'This myth has to be broken. This was one of the reasons why I chose to do a film that has more than one lead character in it,' he points out. The lyricist-actor-filmmaker, who was also seen in Aatagara, adds that filmmakers with more literary inclination tend to look beyond a single character leading a story. 'Aatagara was inspired from Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, similarly, Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu is an adaptation of the story by the same name by Poornachandra Tejaswi. Even my film has many stories, one by RK Narayan, one by Jayanth Kaikini, another by me, all of which are hyperlinked in the end,' says Rohith.
Pannaga, too, is a fan of the anthology-based films that are hyperlinked and believes that they work with contemporary audiences. 'I've always wanted to make a film with multiple stories that run simultaneously. I'm glad that I get to make my debut with a film that allows me to do just that. The single star concept is tried and tested and the audience too are fed up of seeing the same old rigmarole. They are now open to different points of view, which is what we need to also work on,' adds Pannaga.
Upcoming multi-starrers
Chowka
Cast: Vijay Raghavendra, Prem, Diganth, Prajwal Devaraj, Aindrita Ray, Bhavana, Deepa Sannidhi and Priya Mani
Dayavittu Gamanisi
Cast: Rajesh Nataranga, Prakash Belawadi, Vasishta N Simha, Raghu Mukherjee, Samyukta Hornad, Sukrata Wagle, Sangeetha Bhat and Poornachandra Mysore
Happy New Year
Cast: Dhananjaya, Sruthi Hariharan, Diganth, Srusti Patil, Vijay Raghavendra, Sonu Gowda
Leader
Cast: Shivarajkumar, Pranitha Subhash, Parineeta Kitty, Vamsi Krishna, Deepika Kamaiah, Vijay Raghavendra, Yogi, Guru Jaggesh
Tagaru
Cast: Shivarajkumar, Dhananjaya, Vasishta N Simha, Manvitha Harish