BANGALORE: Director Hemanth Hegde of Housefull fame, which promised ‘100 per cent entertainment, zero percent bore’ cinema, just can’t seem to stop making claims to promote his latest film.
It may be recalled that he had hogged headlines when he had announced that he would be the first director in Sandalwood to bring former cricketer and BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu to the Kannada film industry. He had said that Sidhu had agreed to act in his film Housefull. But later, he said that since producers could not afford to pay Sidhu, he would not act in the film.
Hegde had also made a tall claim of installing a 62-feet Charlie Chaplin statue at a beach near Udupi. When that didn’t happen, he said that he could not put up the statue since he did not get permission from concerned authorities.
At the audio launch of Housefull, he said that he wanted to put up the statue of Charlie Chaplin at Innovative Film City and shoot a song sequence if the film completes 50-day screening and later include that song sequence in the film.
Another publicity Recently, he once again made an attempt to get publicity for his film by unveiling a 6-feet Charlie Chaplin statue at a local hotel here. Curious media persons asked whether the audience will get to see this Chaplin statue in the film at least. He said that such a small statue could not be used. When asked what purpose this statue will serve, he said, “I want to promote my film as well as the artist who made it.” He even said that he is playing a double role — director and artiste — because one of the heroes refused to act as a second hero in the film. “I play the role of Charlie Chaplin’s fan. I am paired with Vishaka Singh.” Diganth and Girija Oak also play important characters in the film. It is slated for the release on July 24.