MYSURU: Nikhil Ellidiyappa, the spoof on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil that rocked social media during the Mandya Lok Sabha elections is all set to attain a bigger avatar on the silver screen with JDS leader and minister C S Puttaraju wishing to produce the movie. And none other than Nikhil will play the hero in the film.
The Nikhil Ellidiyappa video shows Kumaraswamy and his wife during the launch of the audio release of Nikhil’s debut film ‘Jaguar’. “Nikhil ello kanthaella, ellidiyappa?,” (Nikhil, where are you?), the video shows the elder Kumaraswamy calling from the stage to which his son replies from the crowd that he is among the Mandya people who love his father.
This led Ambareesh’ fans to troll Nikhil during the run-up to the Mandya LS polls. Nikhil is pitted against Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh.
The trolls went global with Nikhil wryly commenting that he is now a global star!
One company even developed an App Nikhil Ellidiyappa, where over 10,000 people downloaded it.
However, this did not deter minister Puttaraju from announcing at a JD(S) workers’ meeting in KR Pet that he wanted to produce a movie with the title ‘Nikhil Ellidiyappa’. Puttaraju did not clarify whether the movie will be a reply to trolls or a new story altogether.
Nikhil, the hero of two movies, also present at the meeting, said that this can be decided after the announcement of May 23 poll results.
But some wanted to know whether Puttaraju will go ahead with the project even if Nikhil loses in
Mandya. If that happens, it looks like Nikhil can fall back on his film career, said a political wag.
Meanwhile, cinema producer Ganesh has claimed that he has already registered the film title and that Nikhil agreed to act in it.
When contacted, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president S A Chinne Gowda said that they have not given the title to anyone. He said that they will listen to the theme of the story before approving the title. “Our intention is not to hurt anyone,” he added.