There are films which are completely shouldered by today’s stars. Then there are films that entirely depend on stars of yesteryears. With his directorial debut Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu, Hemanth M Rao decided to opt for the latter. Roping in Anant Nag seems to his trump card and he makes no bones about it.
“Having Anant Nag as part of Godhi Banna was indeed intimidating. Directing an actor of his caliber can make you little nervous. But he made us comfortable and that is the wisdom of an actor like him. The other characters of the film worked around him,” says Hemanth.
According to the director, most of Nag’s scenes had an emotional high and it was amazing to see the chemistry between him and Rakshith Shetty, who plays the character of his son. “There were certain scenes where I have forgotten to say ‘cut’ because I was enamoured by the senior actor’s performance. My job of directing also got easy because I had good actors on board including Shruti Hariharan,” he says.
And it seems that Hemanth is getting recognition from the legendary actor too. “He has stated that among his works, Godhi Banna... would be one of his best films. So I now have to live up to his words,” says Hemanth.
The debutant director hopes to complete the film by June end. “The release date will depend on the theatre availability and other factors. That’s another mountain to climb for which I have some time in hand. Right now, I am completely concentrating on my post production work,” he says.
Godhi Banna is a story about a missing person, a role essayed by Anant Nag