Agnyathavasi an try and convey Kannada audiences to theatres and cross borders: Hemanth Rao

On Agnyathavasi

Agnyathavasi, which releases on April 11, stars Rangayana Raghu, Sharath Lohitashwa, and Siddu Moolimani, amongst others. Its technical group contains DOP Advaitha Gurumurthy, editor Bharath Chandrashekar, and music composer Charan Raj.

Chatting with Hindustan Instances about Agnyathavasi, produced below his new banner Dakshayani Talkies, Hemanth Rao explains, “My mom handed away in 2024 as a consequence of most cancers, and to honour her, I arrange Dakshayani Talkies in her title. She was the one who launched me to books, and for me, good storytelling comes above all. Agnyathavasi is directed by Janaradhan Chikkana, and I actually preferred the script. It’s a homicide thriller, and I believe it’s a narrative that can resonate with the audiences.”

Malayalam cinema has churned out some glorious thrillers and cop tales which have discovered pan-Indian attraction, so does he hope that Agnyathavasi will do the identical for Kannada cinema? “I undoubtedly hope so. It will be good if it crosses borders and resonates with audiences in every single place. It’s as much as the folks to take this ahead,” he says.

Greater than 70 Kannada movies have been launched in 2025, and most of them have failed miserably on the field workplace. Whereas Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema have discovered a footing throughout India and have been delivering hits, Kannada cinema appears to be nonetheless floundering. “Sure, I agree. However I don’t wish to complain about this – I’d moderately see this as a possibility to make a distinction and break this panorama with completely different sorts of cinema. Agnyathavasi is a part of that try. Many of the viewers involves theatres to observe tentpole movies, however good storytelling also can convey the Kannada viewers to theatres. And I wish to give attention to good storytelling throughout genres to convey the viewers to theatres,” he rapidly asserts.

Does he assume stars are necessary for a film to do effectively at the moment on the field workplace? “Not like earlier than, the viewers is changing into picky – simply on star worth alone, a film will do effectively within the first two days, however marrying it together with good content material – which is like bringing two powerhouses collectively – is the important thing to making sure it does effectively on the field workplace,” explains Hemanth.

Are film theatres useless?

One of many attention-grabbing statements made not too long ago about theatres was by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who stated that film theatres are by no means coming again after the Covid period. As a filmmaker, would he agree? Hemanth Rao smiles and states, “This is sort of a salesman who sells bottled water to folks by telling them that the river is poisoned. I believe this assertion greatest sums it up. Cinema just isn’t going to die – no less than for an additional 100 years. The expertise of watching a film as a neighborhood in theatres is one thing unparalleled and might’t get replaced by OTT. Watching a film on the large display is a visible expertise that may’t be replicated elsewhere.”

Hemanth Rao was all set to do a film this 12 months with Kannada star Shiva Rajkumar titled Bhairavana Kone Paata, however the actor’s well being difficulty has put this film on maintain for now. “I believe it’s solely honest that we give him time to recoup and are available again totally match to work on the movie. So, within the meantime, I’m engaged on one other script and the official announcement is prone to be made by the tip of April about this venture,” indicators off the director.