Dedicated fans of Shivarajkumar have always found ways to show their love for the star. On September 28, around 500 youths organised a bike rally to mark the audio launch of his film Belli directed by Musanje Mahesh.
K P Srikanth, president of Shivarajkumar's fans association said, "Fan clubs like Shivu Adda and Shiva Sainya Boys took a bike rally from KR Puram and rode till Freedom Park and later joined the audio launch at Jnana Jyothi Auditorium."
Belli audio was released by Energy minister D K Shivakumar, who was surprised to see the huge crowd. "I know Shivarajkumar has a lot of fans. I didn't come here as a politician, I am here because I am Shivanna's fan," he said.
Fans have problem with director's name
Director Mahesh who came to limelight with his film Musanje Mathu is popularly known as Musanje Mahesh. However, the crowd did not like Shivanna addressing him as Musanje Mahesh.
Speaking to his fans, Shivarajkumar said, "We can't forget our roots. He will be known as Musanje Mahesh and calling him Belli Mahesh will now depend on the audience reactions when the film gets released."
The much needed break
Director Mahesh took a two-and-a-half-year break before he started working on Belli. He said the break was taken with an intention and happened for the good. "I was branded for directing only love stories and family dramas. That needed to be changed. So I took time to study the audience and to relearn the process of making commercial films. That's why I chose a massy script like Belli."
"I was fortunate because Shivarajkumar chose to accommodate dates for my film over others and we even managed to complete shooting well in time. We are now planning for a October release," he said.
Belli is produced by Rajesh and has Kriti Kharbanda in the female lead. It also includes Vinod Prabhakar, (son of Tiger Prabhakar), Deepak, Prashanth and Venkatesh Prasad. The music of the film is composed by Sridhar Sambhram and Chandrashekar is the cinematographer. "Shooting for Belli was fun, because I had four young boys along with me throughout the journey. Belli is not about only me. It is about five of us, which includes the villain Adi Lokesh," Shivarajkumar said.