2 languages & a love story

Since time immemorial, namma small screen sagas have revolved around the atte-sose tussle or that of a sacrificial character. They get high TRPs as the audience laps up these favourite tears-jerkers. Despite there being no change in the audiences’ preferences, regular TV soaps hold the key to the small screen industry. Moving away from the usual, many are also experimenting with new ideas on Kannada television, especially given the wide range of tele-serial from mythology-based shows, to love stories, comedy, horror, revenge sagas, etc.

This trend also revolves around unusual characters in lead roles — like an over weight girl fighting against all odds to win over the hearts of many.

While audiences’ crave for a new genre of shows and programmes along with their daily dose of atte-sose driven entertainment, serial like Brahmastra on Udaya are ‘literally’ crossing boundaries. A story revolving around a local huduga and a Telugu-speaking girl, the serial is packed with love and revenge. Bengaluru Chronicle reports on this new tale that binds two hearts and languages.

Moving away from the monotony, director Ravi Garani has selected a different story. Garani says that the effort to bring in a new concept resulted in Brahmastra. He believes that the Kannada audience will appreciate this novel attempt.

“In mythology Brahmastra is considered to be the last and most powerful weapon. The story revolves around two families with different mindsets. The heroine Shivaranjini, a Telugu girl, belongs to a  family dead against love, whereas as the hero Santosh’s family believes that anything can be accomplished by love,” he says, adding that an attempt is being made to highlight that love is beyond boundaries, be it religion or enthnicity. Ashwin, a writer feels that such ventures are a fresh breath of air. “It is not just cinema but TV too has started to experiment. Such ventures ultimately sustain, dependant on their viewership, and therefore every episode matters. A love story between two protagonists speaking two different languages is an interesting concept that might have been done to death on the big screen but not on TV. An added advantage is that Kannada and Telugu are quite similar, and easily understandable thus there is no fear of diluting a tale because of language barrier,” she adds.

The serial has a notable star cast with Pramod and Deepa as the lead actors, the cast also includes Triveni, Shailasri Sudharshan, Ashok Hedge, Vinay Koudinya and many others.

Before wrapping up, Deepa who plays the lead reveals that she learnt Telugu to play the role. “This is my fourth venture, after Maha Satya, and acting in the film
Ivattu directed by Dinesh Baboo Sir, and returning to play a supporting
role in Kiccha Sudeep Sir’s serial production Varasdhara. We have shot extensively is several parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, mostly in Kadapa, Hyderabad and Rayalaseema areas,” she signs off.