After the humongous success of his previous release Kirik Party, he ventured into his dream project Avane Srimannarayana. It is Sandalwood’s next big pan-India release in five languages. Of them, the Kannada version is slated to hit the screens in at least 400 screens, breaking the records of KGF’s first chapter. Bengaluru Chronicle speaks to the versatile Rakshit Shetty, who plays the lead as Narayana. He talks about the birth of Narayana and his expectations along with the personal highs and lows he underwent during the past three years of his life, and more.
“Avane Srimannarayana is the result of three years of hardwork and dedication which went into its making. We have made it very passionately, and for me, I am satisfied with the fact that we were able to make the film as we intended to do it in the first place. I am not nervous because of the satisfaction of realising the dream of making such a film. I cannot wait to see how the audience will react to it,” says Rakshit Shetty.
On making it in five languages along including Kannada, Rakshit shares that it has always been his dream ever since he landed in Bengaluru to become a filmmaker. “This has been a dream for me for a long time. I always wanted to reach pan-India audience, and Avane is my first step towards it. Obviously, a lot of planning has gone into it and certain aspects have been taken care of. Even when dubbing, we have made sure that it does not look like a dubbed movie, and the humour is perfectly translated into other languages. In the process, we have worked hard to not lose the authenticity of the subject,” he adds.
While the mythological Narayana is known for his multiple roles in defeating the evils, Rakshit explains that Narayana from Amaravathi, the fictional place in Avane Srimannarayana is modern and stylish connecting to the present audience. “Somehow, he is still related to the mythological character of Narayana. He rises to become legendary in this one.”
He goes onto add that the idea of Avane Srimannarayana struck him initially during his days as shortfilm filmmaker. “I happened to watch a short film in which the popular sequence of Hiranyakashipu comes. This is where the idea originated and the rest I developed later. During the process, we added interesting characters and finally Avane happened,” he says.
He also explains how legendary filmmaker Shankar Nag’s Malgudi Days series inspired him as an artiste. “He
has acted in 40 films and directed a dozen including Malgudi Days. It requires a lot of dedication to achieve something like that in such a short period. I would be really happy if I could do half of what Shankar Nag was able to do in such a short span of his lifetime.”
