Ananya Kasaravalli did not have to search far for talent. It was in her blood and she just needed to stamp it with her own ideas and creativity.
Daughter of filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli and sister of upcoming director Apurva, Ananya knew that filmmaking will come to her soon. It was just a matter of finding the right script. And when she did, she did not surprise anybody in her family; they knew this was where she was headed.
Titled Harikatha Prasanga, according to Ananya, the film is about Yakshagana stri veshadhari or a man who dresses like a woman in the art form of Yakshagana and his search for identity and acceptance. “Taking up the film was an impromptu decision. My father and brother were having a discussion with scriptwriter Gopal Krishna Pai. I joined in. Everybody liked the story and there was a sort of competition on who will helm the project. It was then that uncle Pai blessed me and said that I should direct the film,” she says.
Having watched her father’s works, and of late getting inspired by her brother, Ananya is well aware of the significance that she carries with her name. “At every step, I am conscious because I have a surname that reflects mastery in filmmaking. It is a legacy and my responsibility is to keep it up. We started work a year ago and we have done some research on Yakshagana and streepatra before we go on the sets from October,” she says.
Ananya has previously been an actor and was part of a few serials. She also had a tryst with costume designing for her father’s films, and had even experimented with short films.
And when it came to directing, apart from everything else, she feels blessed to have found the right producer in Basant Kumar Patil. “He picks up good films and doesn’t compromise on the project. He has a lot of trust in me. In fact, the day he got to know that I was going to Chennai to get trained at a film school, he had mentioned that I should be directing a film under his banner. This film actually materialised because he wanted me to start soon,” she reveals.
The film will be shot in Byndoor and Kundapur and will have a lot of local talent. “Shrunga, a theatre actor is playing the lead along with Champa Shetty, K G Krishnamurthy and others,” she says.