Diganth has finally been handed his ticket to Bollywood as shooting for his first Hindi film Sattack, a remake of the Tamil movie Chennai 600028, starts on November 28.
Sattack is based on gully cricket. The film is being co-produced by David director Bejoy Nambiar while his associate Yazad is directing the movie.
“This industry (Hindi films) feels and looks completely new to me as they follow different pattern from what I have experienced on the sets of Kannada films. I am learning new things and meeting new people. This movie also sees a lot of good new faces with whom I have struck up a good friendship,” says Diganth who recalls his passion for the game as a child and one that took a new shape when he started playing with a season ball in Celebrity Cricket matches. “Now, I am enjoying playing the game in front of the camera,” he adds. Sattack will see Siddanth Kapoor (son of Shakti Kapoor) play Shiva’s character from the original while Diganth will essay Jai’s role.
Diganth feels it was unfortunate he could not debut with Prachi Desai in Bollywood, but he’s not entirely disappointed. The two were to star in a Vikram Bhat horror project. After Prachi pulled out, Bhat offered Diganth another film. This time Diganth refused. “I felt it was better to be cautious going by my last experience. I feel the genre (horror) will not be right for me to start with in Bollywood, and so I took up a light-hearted film like Sattack that will allow me to explore a different side of me,” he says.
Rumour has it that he and good friend Aindrita Ray have both shifted base to Mumbai for better prospects. Contradicting the talk, Diganth says, “Andy is doing a Bengali film, and I am here. She is busy in Kolkata and I am in Mumbai, more like East and West. So settling in Mumbai is a far away thought. This is a temporary shift for six to seven months because I am shooting for a Hindi film, which usually takes time, and I can’t be travelling up and down Bangalore-Mumbai.”
Of course, he’s missing the food and his pets.