Arya - Kannada film by Malayalam director Shyamprasad

Deepak Dev, Uncle Loknath, Laxman Sirvi & Shyam Prasad during the launch of Arya

Malayalam director Shyam Prasad is all set to launch his new film Arya in Kannada. On Sunday at Press Club of Bangalore he made the announcement. Chief guest Uncle Loknath formally launched the film and wished the film crew a very best. Shooting begins from the second week of October.

Shayam Prasad who has won several national and provincial awards also has name in International film industry as his film Agnisaakshi was premiered at Karlovy Vary, Cairo and Tokyo as well as in Fukuoka Film Festival as one of the most outstanding film. His latest English feature Bokshu The Myth, an Indo-US co-production is shot in the US and Himalayan valley is awaiting its world release by end of 2003. As Shyam Prasad served as a jury for the prestigious Indian National Film Awards in 2003 and Indian Panorama in 1999 he got opportunities to watch many Kannada films. He wondered when he watched the mainstream Kannada films. Directors like Girish Kasaravalli and Girish Karanad demonstrate some excellence and human observations in their directions. He feels there is a major disparity between so-called meaningful mainstream Kannada cinemas. Current films are not up to the mark as there is a lot of scope for new experiments and innovation in cities like Bangalore with cosmopolitan culture and life style. "So when I entered into making a Kannada film, it's a feeling of great expectation of how this intercultural exchange is going to take place" added Shyam Prasad.

Director Shyam Prasad & producer Laxman Sirvi

Director Shyam Prasad & producer Laxman Sirvi

Film Arya is basically a love story set in at a very hard time. Pair of young lovers who are held in a very difficult and tact time, wanting to reach the brighter side of the world. The film narrates how they strive to achieve it. Director feels, this and the other Kannada films are no different except the style and ambience he is going to capture. He believes the foreigner's eye captures the best. So when he looked at Bangalore, he saw a different world. Kannada and other regional langue cinemas are facing great threat. So the regional cinema has to extend to reach out others so that we have cross-cultural communication for the survival; strongly feels Shyam Prasad.

He is looking for a multi-cultured crew from Kerala, Tamila Nadu, Karnataka and from North India. He enjoys working with this type of troupe as they bring in their language, their culture and their living experiences. He is looking for new and fresh faces. He did not specify anything about the supporting casts. Expecting to start the shooting by October and still not clear on the cast sounds strange! He may look for mixed troupe here too. Deepak Dev from Kerala will score the music. From next week they will be starting the song recording. Laxman Sirvi who is basically from Rajastan and staying in Bangalore for a long time is producing this film under the banner of Bindas Creations.