Looks like actress Latha Hegde from Auckland is here to stay in Bengaluru at least for a while. She is being introduced to Sandalwood by director Mahesh Babu, for whose yet-to-be-titled film she has completed shoot for, except the song sequences. The actress, paired opposite Chetan, plays a journalist.
Without a break, Latha has silently started shooting for another interesting project. She has replaced Shraddha Srinath in Gelayana Gelathi, a film directed by Kishore Kumar, in which she is paired opposite Prabhu. The actor has made his entry with Urvi.
Shraddha had been very keen on the project and had even told City Express that it dealt with an out-of-the-box subject. But we are told that she had to opt of the film because of date issues. Gelayana Gelathi was delayed following demonetisation and when it did start rolling Shraddha got busy with a couple of Tamil films and its promotions.
Kishore Kumar is marking his directorial debut with Gelayana Gelathi, (a friend’s girlfriend) but he has 8 to 10 years of experience working in the Tamil industry and has assisted directors such as Balasekaran and Sasi of Pichaikkaran fame.
Latha, who is currently on the sets of Gelayana Gelathi, told us that it is destiny that got her this opportunity and explains how and why. “I was not aware that Shraddha was part of the project and had opted out,” says Latha.
“I was approached for this film last November, when I had said no because I knew I would get busy with Mahesh’s project. But while shooting my first Kannada film, I learnt about the new trend in Sandalwood of a new bunch of filmmakers with fresh ideas and unique subjects.
These films, I heard, were hugely popular. Meanwhile, I had completed my talky portions in Mahesh’s project and was waiting for the songs’ shooting to start. I wanted to keep myself busy and, when the makers of Geleyana Gelayathi came back to me, I read the script and found it very interesting and everything happened instantly. Today I have completed eight days of shoot. I believe that I was fated to do this film.”
Mahesh Babu, who will be going on a location hunt to Bangkok from Tuesday, will start the song shoot soon for which Chetan and Latha will be joining the crew.