Producer turned director, Shashank who is presently busy with Puneeth Rajkumar’s film made under actor’s home banner, PRK Productions, has simultaneously started his own production house and has his hands full.
Shashank already has three projects under his belt that will involve actors Krishna Ajai Rao, Rishi and Dileep, separately. The director will start with the Ajai Rao starrer, Thayige Thakka Maga, that is likely to go on the floors in October. Assistant director, Raghu Kovi, who is Shashank’s protege will helm this project. For his second project Shashank will collaborate with Rishi of Operation Alamelamma fame and is scouting for a script and a new director. Dileep will star in Shashank’s third project to be directed by him, for which the script is ready. “I will take up Dileep’s project only after I complete Puneeth Rajkumar’s film. Though the latter project was supposed to go on floors immediately, I had keep it on hold, because of preparation work for Puneeth’s film,” says Shashank.
The reasons for starting his own production house has been mainly attributed to creative freedom and experimentation. “I will not have people pressuring me on how to go about with my films. Usually I had producers coming with hero’s dates and I would respond with a commercial script,” he adds. There are some “innovative scripts” which need to be brought out adds Shashank. “I felt I needed to take these scripts under the ownership of my production house. This platform will help a lot of investors who come to me requesting to do films for them,” he says.