Young, upcoming Kannada film director Pawan Kumar is on a safe drive as his film U-Turn has fetched `6.5 crore in Karnataka alone since its release in May. The director who started with Lifeu Ishtene, had set records with Lucia, which was the first crowd-funded film in Kannada.
Pawan is again in the spotlight with a subject that is socially relevant. Interestingly, he wrote the story of U-Turn when he used to get stuck in traffic jams while dropping his daughter to the school. “The film is a thriller entertainer with the underlying theme of safe driving,” he says.
While U-Turn attracted attention from the police department, the latest to watch the film were officials from Bengaluru’s Mahanagar Palika, who booked a hall for the show.
The film, which was shot in the Bengaluru office of the New Indian Express for 10 days, marks the debut of Shraddha Srinath, who plays an intern with the newspaper. A few sequences with Dilip Raj who plays a crime reporter were also shot in the office.
Before its release, the film was screened at the New York Indian Film Festival. “It was a fantastic experience. I was thrilled to see the reaction from the audience as U-turn was much better than Lucia,” says Pawan, adding, “We will end
with our international screening at Sydney and Melbourne and this is our second run in Australia. Another screening is being arranged in Hong Kong and Singapore.”
The director also plans to release the online version of the film soon. “We couldn’t release U-Turn in some places and also for people, who don’t like going to theatres. In places like Dubai, where we couldn’t release, the online version will bring the film to audiences.”
For Pawan, each film is a new beginning. “I did not make U-Turn with a Lucia hangover. In fact, making any film is scary and I like to take it slowly,” he says, adding, “The audience expectations are huge. But more than that, I have expectations from myself. I am trying to be more simple in my films. Simple in the sense as that is the most difficult thing to do.”
Meanwhile, popular south Indian actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu is planning to turn producer and has shown keen interest in remaking U-Turn in Tamil and Telugu, in which she may play the lead role.
Pawan, on the other hand, wants to take a break from thrillers, which is why he plans to put his earlier venture C10H14N2, a subject based on nicotine, on hold. “I want to attempt a different genre and then return to the nicotine subject.”