BENGALURU: The Kannada Entertainment industry, for years, has been more of a follower than a trendsetter. But now, looking at the way things are unfolding online, tables will are soon expected to turn with digital production house Sakkath Studio now being called a pioneer in being a trendsetter.
The studio is the dream of RJ Pradeepa, who believes that they will be able to deliver original digital Kannada content, in every genre, on par with the global standards. Conceptualised by trio – Pradeepa and his friends Ravi and Vivek – they are now a team of 20 people.
Started around a year ago, the Studio is working on delivering ‘Sakkath’ (meaning awesome, cool, or super in Kannada) to every section of society. Pradeepa says, “Mobile phones changed the dynamics of entertainment for everyone. The device has left people craving variety entertainment. Audience today are spoilt for choice and we have to keep up with them. Many who start the production house just stick to one particular genre – say comedy, music, short films or the latest being webseries. But with Sakkath studio, we wanted to create a mini television experience where audience get to switch between genres.”
Pradeepa feels that the studio will be a platform for anybody who is a talent gold mine. “There is a dearth of good original Kannada digital content and this has forced the audience to move to other languages. We want to change that by bringing them all back to Kannada. While other industries have quickly moved and made a permanent place for themselves in digital content, Kannada, somehow, with the laid-back attitude, has taken a backseat,” he says.
Before taking a plunge, the team did a few experiments through which they found out that good content could be sold, irrespective of language and genre. Kannada’s first full-fledged web-series Loose Connection is their product that has paved way for different brands to take a look at the language and affirmed the belief that there was a market for local content. Sakkath Studio has close to two lakh subscribers, but Paadeepa says their aim is to work towards creating good, original Kannada content.
Spoilt for choiceThe Studio has already produced three webseries - Loose
Connection, Dr Pal, and Joshelay, and two more series are underway. At Sakkath Short Cuts, one can find many short films in one place. Sakkath Music provides platform for original music. Sakkath Stories is a series of real people narrating their inspirational stories. Pradeepa also hinted that a Sandalwood superstar would soon join hands for a project. With this, he hopes to change the dynamics of online Kannada content and reach more people.
Caraoke - Carpool Karoke
Their latest show Carpool Karoke – akin to Late Late Show with James Corden -where celebrities are interviewed by the host in a car while driving around in the locality– has garnered good number of hits on YouTube. During the show, RJ Mayuraa Raghavendra will drive in and around Bengaluru, while engaging Kannada music directors and singers in candid conversations. “We set up nine cameras — four inside the car, three outside, one drone that follows the car and an Osmo camera for follow shots. We wanted to make sure that we are on par with global standards,” Pradeepa adds. There will be a total of seven episodes in the first season and it will be uploaded online every 15 days. The next episode will feature music director Guru Kiran or rapper Chandan Shetty.