Bhandar' of creativity: Rangitaranga director to make romantic comedy

He is a multi-talented individual in the true sense of the word — Anup Bhandari worked as a software professional before he turned to short film making. He then made his dream debut as director for Rangitaranga, a landmark in Sandalwood which completed 25 weeks at the box office, and is still running after it was recently re-released.

That’s not all, he is a composer, lyricist, singer and an actor along with a “bhandar” of talent behind the camera. Bhandari speaks exclusively to Bengaluru Chronicle as he gears up for his most-awaited project, a romantic comedy, even as his amazing debut film Rangitaranga shines after winning four awards of the ten awards which included best film and best director in the recently-held film awards (south).

“It has been a great year with four film awards — with Rangitaranga completing one year in theatres followed by a grand re-release of a new version to coincide with the anniversary. Rangitaranga has given me everything, including a great deal of responsibility towards my future movies. We are announcing the new title on July 9. It is going to be a romantic comedy. The script and songs are ready. Song programming is happening as we speak. We are hoping to start rolling by mid-July,” says Anup Bhandari, who has an engineering degree from Mysuru, after which he moved to the US.

Anup is one of two sons, of well-known television personality — Sudhakar Bhandari, who in fact, had directed Sudeep for a TV serial in his initial days before he attained stardom as Kiccha Sudeep. With his family shifting back to India, he resides in Mysuru for now, at least for a year or two. The talented power house is excited about his second venture.

“The script for the second venture was ready even before the launch of Rangitaranga but as the project demanded a higher budget, we had decided to go ahead with Rangitaranga. Even Rangitaranga was supposed to be a low budget film with plans to shoot it in limited locations, mostly in a room. However, it eventually took a life of its own, and the final output was amazing and the response has been mind-boggling,” he smiles, adding that Nirup, his brother is again featuring in the second venture in the lead role. “We will be announcing the lead actress on July 9 along with the title of the film,” he adds.

Even as he speaks from Mumbai, finalising top technicians to work for his next romantic comedy, Anup says that he has again composed music and lyrics for the film with Ajaneesh Loknath doing the background score.

“After the enormous success, my family along with my wife and daughter moved back to Mysuru. We are happy to be back with the family. My wife, Neeta Shetty who did the costume designing for the first film, is again assisting me in various departments. I am extremely happy with the upward trend in Sandalwood with most film makers including newcomers experimenting with new subjects resulting in larger audiences turning out in huge numbers to support such films,” Anup reveals.

Anup feels that film makers are finally attempting different genres successfully. “In fact, I had watched Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu prior to its release. Though the film was brilliant, I was sceptical about it surviving for three weeks with a family audience. However, I am glad as I was proved wrong.”

Before packing up, he says he is glad to see even hero-centric films doing well with new make-overs like Kiccha Sudeep in Hebbuli and Darshan for Chakravarthy.